Page:Ollanta An Ancient Ynca Drama.pdf/11

Rh historical events into the form of brief and easily remembered sentences, while the Harahuicus condensed them into pithy verses, both forms being prepared with a view to their being learnt by heart, and handed down by the people. But the Quipu-camayocs, or "keepers of knots," appear to have combined the duties of preserving and deciphering the knot records, with those of remembering and transmitting the historical narratives and songs; and Garcilasso implies that their memories, in some way which he does not explain, were assisted by the knots. "Each thread and knot," he says, "brought to the mind that which it was arranged it should suggest; just as the commandments and articles of our holy Catholic faith are remembered by the numbers under which they are placed." In giving the verses preserved by Blas Valera, however, the Ynca quotes from that writer, who says that he found the verses in knots of different colours, which recorded certain ancient annals.

Such is all that is to be gathered from the writers who flourished in the century which witnessed the conquest of the Ynca empire by the Spaniards. We come next to the inquiry whether songs and dramatic compositions of præ-Spanish times were likely to be preserved, orally or in writing, by the Ynca chiefs and people. It was the policy of the Spaniards to treat the native chiefs with some consideration; they were allowed to retain the ancient insignia of their rank, and to appear in them in public religious processions, and