In The Year 1543, Captain Juan De
Holmos, Lieutenant-Governor Of Puerto Viejo, Caused A Certain Valley To Be
Carefully
Examined, in which these giants were were said to have been
destroyed, and in which ribs and other bones of
Prodigious size were dug
up, which fully confirmed the traditions of the Indians[17]. The natives
of this country have no knowledge whatever of writing, nor had they even
any use of that method of painting employed by the Mexicans for preserving
the memory of ancient events, which were handed down from father to son
merely by traditionary stories. In some places indeed they used an
extraordinary means for preserving the remembrance of important events, by
certain cords or strings of cotton called _Quippos_, on which they
represented _numbers_ by knots of different kinds, and at regulated
intervals, from _units_ up to _dozens_, and so forth; the cords being of
the same colours with those things which they were intended to represent.
In every province, there are persons who are entrusted with the care of
these _quippos_, who are named _Quippo camayos_, who register public
matters by means of these coloured strings and knots artificially disposed;
and it is wonderful with what readiness these men understand and explain
to others events that have happened several ages ago. There are public
buildings throughout the country which are used as magazines of these
quippos.
To the south of the equator, and near the coast, is the island of Puna[18],
about twelve leagues in circumference, containing abundance of game, and
having great quantities of fish on its shores.
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