To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

In my last letter I promised to send you an account of the Qua Quan Quot, the scoral organization that once made itself felt in the Inca University. At the outset let me explain that the last word, Quot, seems to be translatable somewhat like the Latin "volgus" or Greek "polloi" and may be rendered in English as "herd" or "clan". It was often used by the Incas to refer to cattle, though in this case it seems to imply some sort of men. The significance of the other two words is unknown.

As usual, most of our knowledge must come from the secret archives of the university; but the manner in which we first got on the trail of the Qua Quan Quot was peculiar, not to say gruesome. I was digging on the edge of the eliff overlooking the Urubamba Canyon when my pick struck on a rock that rang hollow. By careful investigation, I finally discovered the entrance to a cave, halfway down the cliff, and almost inaccessible from above. My adventures in entering the cave might fill a volume. The mouth had been completely stopped up, so as to be airtight; and when I succeeded in forcing an entrance; a tremendous puff of noxious gas burst out, asphyxiating me instantly. When I recovered, I found myself in a clump of bushes some distance lower down. Only providence had saved me from falling 563 feet into the river below.

I scrambled up again, and found the cave by this time safe for entrance. I went in, and when my eyes had become accustomed, to the darkness, they were met with an astonishing sight. Standing in the centre of the spacious rockchamber were five motionless figures, hooded and masked, and shrouded from head to foot in startling pink garments. (Pink was the color of purity among the ancient Incas, doubtless because it is the color most rarely found in nature.) Kneeling at the feet of each of these standing figures, but clad in less distinctive garments, were other figures, in the act of kissing the bare feet of their superiors. From my reading in the records, I was able to identify these figures at once, by their insignia, as members of the Qua Quan Quot. Later our geologist explained that the men had evidently been mummified or petrified by the sudden explosion of a liquid used by the Incas for brilliant illuminating effects, such as red and green lights. The gas thus created, combining with a rocksecretion of volcanic origin, was enough to account for the explosion which had originally sealed the mouth of the cave and preserved these bodies through so many ages.

From various bits of evidence, and the reports in the university paper, we managed to piece together a plausible story. The society seems to have been composed largely of men who bore a grudge against someone; for example, ardent sun-worshippers would often join it because they believed it would be a means of punishing moon-worshippers; and similarly moon-worshippers would join in the hope of vengeance on star-worshippers. There seems to have been no definite program, no set of principles which all members acknowledged, only the common tie of dissatisfaction and hatred. Many students in the university seem to have joined; mainly from among the younger groups or those from the southern part of the Inca realm, where moon-worship was particularly rampant. The appeal for membership was made largely on romantic grounds, by hints that each man would take part in a great crusade, and no doubt the mysterious rites of initiation--of which I found a horrible example in the cave--and the unusual costumes of membership, had an attraction for susceptible youths.

Another interesting, but perhaps irrelevant, discovery of ours relates to the South American domestic animal, the Ilama, still much used in these regions. The method of employing these creatures is unique. They are put in pairs, and a yoke is simply placed across their necks with projections hanging down on either side, but not fastened below. Obviously, in order to escape, all one of the beasts needs to do is to lower his head; but by a sort of stubborn pride they always bear their heads high, and are never known to escape. We have found Ilama bones in many of the potsherds unearthed, notably in the vicinity of the sacred temple; and we constantly find tracings of pairs of Ilamas carved in the rock and as ornament on buildings. The Ilama seems to have been the emblom of the university, just as bulldogs and tigers are used for the embloms of certain modern institutions. Cordially yours,   J. BLAIE-DUNCAN,

With the University of Nueva Barcelona Peruvian Expedition,

Near Machu Picchu, Peru, December 17, 1921.