These knotted records, or Quipus, had special keepers who held office in the provinces, and the results of their energy were forwarded annually to the capital city for examination and preservation. The provincial keepers were called “Quipu Camayas,” and the records they kept were mainly statistics concerning the people of their districts. The knots were arranged either on a strong piece of cord or upon a stick, and formed a sort of fringe; the word “Quipu” means a knot. According to the position of the knot a certain number was probably indicated, and the class of person referred to is shown by the colour of the bit of string which represents it. But it is also likely that more elaborate interpretations could be made by skilled interpreters of Quipus. Little is really known as to that, but it is suggested by competent observers that, for instance, red meant war, yellow meant gold, white meant peace, and silver. But this is probably guess work. The same idea has been utilised in the case of a rare Chinese book, the leaves of which were of differently coloured silks. Each colour was supposed to convey a certain emotion to the student, and when he had exhausted the emotion caused by one colour, he turned over the leaf so as to experience the effect of another. [Illustration: FIG. 9.--Cardinal’s hat.] The use of knots as reminders is not quite obsolete, as it is common enough even now to make a knot in one’s handkerchief, if anything easy is to be remembered. It is curious if this custom is really a survival of the Peruvian Quipu! A form of knotted record is used among several of the tribes in the Pacific Islands, and the Jewish “Taleth,” or scarf, has fringes which imply certain facts. The ordinary rosary with its ten beads for Ave Maria’s and single ones for Pater Nosters has also something in common with knots, and possibly the abacus of the Greeks and the Chinese may have a similar origin. But probably these last are only used as aids in mathematical calculations. Something analogous to the Peruvian knots is to be found in the tasselled and knotted fringes which adorn the ceremonial hats of dignitaries in the Romish church. The hats themselves are always of the same shape, round shallow crowns with broad brims. The fringes, however, differ in size and colour according to the rank of the wearer. The master cord is drawn through the brim of the hat at its inner edge, at a point over each ear, and kept in place by a large ornamental knot on the outside. The tassels start from one, and from this two others depend, and from these three, and so on, one more in each row. An abbot wears a black hat with six green tassels on each side; a bishop wears a green hat with six green tassels on each side on a gold cord; an archbishop has a violet hat with ten violet tassels on each side on a gold cord, and a cardinal has a red hat with fifteen red tassels on a gold cord, depending on each side.