Mr. Blair-Duncan's Tenth Letter

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

A fascinating narrative from the history of the buried university has just come to light. It concerns a secret organization that was founded among the Incas at one period of the university's history, and once threatened to have a profound effect on the students. The story is preserved to us in an old pamphlet found in the Administration Building.

But before I continue my narrative I must clear up a misunderstanding that seems to have arisen from these hasty letters of mine, and which I am informed by cable, has led to doubt as to their authenticity. It is generally believed that the Incas had no written language except the ideographs which are commonly cut by all early tribes on the faces of the rocks. This belief is not surprising, but it is inaccurate. My readers will please remember that the account which follows is not mere speculation of my own, nor is it based wholly on the findings of the present expedition. It is to be seen in the records of the early Spanish explorers on this continent--notable among them Juan de Cabrera, to whom I made reference in my first letter--who ascertained much of their knowledge from the surviving Incas themselves. This is the explanation of the written language, and will be authenticated, I believe, by Hiram Bingham, who you will remember made the earlier expedition and unearthed Machu Picchu.

In the Golden Age of Inca history, there was a highly developed written language, consisting of signs and symbols which I cannot describe here, and written most often on dried jugilatsi or plantain leaves, sometimes on another leaf like the elephant-ear or burdock--these being unaccountably preferred for public writings because of their cumber-some size Now it came to pass (as they say in the fairy stories) that one season the burdock leaves all withered, and the sun-prophets prophesied evil, declaring that the almighty Sun was withered the leaves because of displeasure at what was written thereon. So the rulers of the Inca realm issued a proclamation from Tampu-Tocco (their centre of administration, meaning "tavern with windows") declaring that all public documents and private writings should be destroyed, and that the written tongue should be promptly forgotten by the people and used no more. These orders were carried out literally to the letter, which accounts for the popular notion in regard to the Inca alphabet. Apparently, too, the threatened evil was warded off by this act.

But one fact has evidently been overlooked, and it leaves room for a theory which has been borne out by our discoveries here. That fact is the clause "by the people" in the edict banning the alphabet. Just what did that phrase mean to the Incas? It will be remembered that the Circle of the Elders at the university were also priests of the Sun-god. Clearly, then, what was written on the burdock by members of their sacred caste could not be displeasing to the god, and did not need to be destroyed, to ward off evil, as did the popular writings. Furthermore, we can hardly conceive of a university func- tioning without a written language; and we know how loth the Inca people would have been to hinder in any way the workings of their beloved and revered institution of learning. Therefore it seems safe to conclude that the term "by the people" in the proclamation did not apply to the priests and their neophytes, and that the language was thus saved in the university. This conclusion our discoveries have proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and I hasten to reassure the readers of my letters in regard to this mooted point.

This letter is so long-drawn-out already that I shall have to reserve my account of the Qua Quan Quat, the Inca secret organization, until my next letter.  Cordially yours,

With the University of Nueva Barcelona Peruvian Expedition,  J. BLAIR-DUNCAN

Near Machu Picchu, Peru, December 7, 1921