They had another method of knowing and understanding what had been received from the contributions in the provinces, what provisions were stored on the routes that the king would take with his army or when he was visiting the provinces, how much was in each place of deposit, how much was delivered out. And this method exceeded in artifice the _carastes_ used by the Mexicans for their calculations.[94] The system of the Peruvians was by _quipus_. These were long ropes made of knotted cords, and those who were accountants and understood the arrangement of these knots, could, by their means, give an account of the expenditure, and of other things during a long course of years. On these knots they counted from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred, and from a hundred to a thousand. On one of the ropes are the units, on another the tens, and so on. Each ruler of a province was provided with accountants who were called _quipucamayos_, and by these knots they kept account of what tribute was to be paid in the district, with respect to silver, gold, cloth, flocks, down to fire-wood and other minute details. By the same _quipus_ they could report to those who were commissioned to take the account at the end of a year, or of ten or twenty years, with such accuracy that so much as a pair of _alpargatas_[95] would not be missing. I was incredulous respecting this system of counting, and although I heard it described, I held the greater part of the story to be fabulous. But when I was at Marcavillca, in the province of Xauxa, I asked the lord Guacarapora to explain it in such a way as that my mind might be satisfied, and that I might be assured that it was true and accurate. He ordered his servants to bring the _quipus_, and as this lord was a native, and a man of good understanding, he proceeded to make the thing clear to me. He told me to observe that all that he, for his part, had delivered to the Spaniards from the time that the Governor Don Francisco Pizarro arrived in the valley, was duly noted down without any fault or omission. Thus I saw the accounts for the gold, the silver, the clothes, the corn, sheep, and other things; so that in truth I was quite astonished.