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From Numerals to Computation 33
"In order to effect a very difficult computation for which an
able calculator would require pen and ink . . ..these Indians [of
Peru] made use of their kernels [sus granos] of wheat. They place
one here, three somewhere else and eight I know not where. They
move one kernel here and three there and the fact is that they are
able to complete their computation without making the smallest
mistake. As a matter of fact, they are better at calculating what
each one is due to_pay or give than we should be with pen and
ink."*
In South America, apparently long before the European conquerors
arrived, the natives of Peru and other countries used
knotted cords for keeping accounts. These were called quipus,
and were used to record the
results found on the counting
table. How old this use
of the quipu may be, together
P
with some kind ofabacus, we
do not know. A manuscript
written in Spanish by a Peruvian
Indian, Don Felipe
Huaman Poma de Ayala, between
1583 and 1613 has recently
been discovered, and
is now in the Royal Library
at Copenhagen. It contains
a large number of pen-andink
sketches. One of these
is here reproduced from a
booklet published in 1931.*
This portrays the accountant
and treasurer (Colador
maior i tezorero) of the Inca,
holding a quipu. In the lower left-hand corner is a counting
board with counters and holes for pebbles or kernels.
* Henry Wassen, The Ancient Peruvian Abacus, Goteborg, tot; reprinted
from Comparative Ethnograplu II Studies, vol. 9.