Many were the Incas’ marks of distinction. Their heads were shorn, all but one lock, as Manco Ccapac had ordained. The “shearing” was done by means of a sharp flint. Another distinction was enlarging the velvet of the ear by inserting ornaments, so that it reached the shoulder, suggesting the Spanish title, _Orejones_. The peculiar badge of the Inca was a fringe encircling his brow, called the _llautu_, “the mark whereby he took possession of the realm, a red roll of wool more fine than silk, which hung in the midst of his forehead.” And his chief distinction, worn in his colored wreath and pointing upward, were the two long pinions of the _corequenque_, that mysterious pair of birds which, isolated in a snowy desert beside a little lake, lived at the foot of an inaccessible mountain. Though there are other snowy deserts and other little lakes and other inaccessible mountains, no similar pair of birds could ever be found. In fact, there never were but two alive at the same time--symbol of the two original parents. They recall the screaming _oo_, a blackbird of the Hawaiian Islands, famed for concealing under each wing a single yellow feather, used in making those magical feather cloaks for the kings on ceremonial occasions. Each Inca must have new pinions, as each must have his new palace, for the apartments of a dead sovereign were closed at death; his golden utensils, jewels, and treasure were buried with him. Men and women, practised in the art of lamentation, cried for one year after his death, when his account was closed. Then the heir “bound his head with the colored wreath” and started forth through his dominions. With the rainbow as their emblem, even Inca facts had distinctive colors and were interwoven with facts of other colors, ideas being expressed directly without the technique of words. Knots in a parti-colored twist were their hieroglyphics, the famous _quipus_, and the Officers of the Knots were their historians. They intertwined the bright filaments of different sizes as well as colors, and tied into remembrance everything from laws and army supplies to ballads of the poets, sung on days of triumph. Such a Sovereign-deity as the Inca could force the equality of all his people, commanding them to be happy. Here was a whole nation moved by sameness of will--desire to please their sovereign. Observance of law was natural to these industrious subjects, who were treated with absolute justice by an absolute despot. Each was just as well fed, just as well clothed, just as well housed, just as well amused, as his neighbor. Emissaries from the king inspected his neighbor to see that it should remain so. All persons had to allow messengers from the Inca to inspect what they were doing at any time. Such as were found commendable were praised in public. Such as were idle and slovenly were scourged on the arms and legs. One punishment was whipping by a deformed Indian with a lash of nettles.