quippus

The _amautas_ were carefully educated to the business of understanding and using the _quippus_, and

Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology 1846

It was their business to understand the _quippus_, keep in memory the historical poems, give attention to the science and practice of medicine, and train their pupils in knowledge.

Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology 1846

He succeeded in getting assistance from many of the older men who had learned of the _amautas_, and especially of those who were trained to read the _quippus_.

Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology 1846

In addition to these, they had many historical traditions of much more importance, related in long poems and preserved in the same way; and there were annals and national documents recorded in the _quippus_.

Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology 1846

(like _quippus_) to him and other high gods of the prayers of men, they are also made to bear messages to men from him and his associated gods.

Zuñi Fetiches Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-1881, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 3-45 Frank Hamilton Cushing 1878

“this science was so much perfected that those skilled in it attained the art of recording historical events, laws, and decrees, so as to transmit to their descendants the most striking events of the empire; thus the _quippus_ could supply the place of documents.”

Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology 1846