"[11]
In South America the Peruvians had their _quipus_, cords of
different lengths, sizes and colors, knotted in various ways, and
attached to a base cord, an arrangement that was a decided aid to the
memory, though it could not be connected with the sounds of words. There
are also faint traces of figures, with definite meaning, among the
Muyscas of Colombia; and the Moxos of Western Bolivia are said to have
employed, as late as the last century, a method of writing, consisting
of lines traced on wooden slabs.[12]
Section 3. _Narrative Literature_.
Of all forms of sustained discourse, we may reasonably suppose that of
narration to have been the earliest. The incidents of the hunt were
related at the return; the experiences of the past were told as a guide
to the present; and the first efforts of the imagination are the
depicting of fictitious occurrences, tradition and myth, story and
history; these make up most of the entertainment of conversation to
simple minds.
Hence, in this primitive literature which I am describing, the narrative
portion is the most abundant. There was a natural aspiration on the part
of the natives, as soon as they had learned the art of writing, to
preserve in permanent form the records, more or less authentic, of their
tribes and ancestors.
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