Read The Dead Media Notebook Online
Authors: Bruce Sterling,Richard Kadrey,Tom Jennings,Tom Whitwell
The Dead Media Notebook (45 page)
These quipos are still used in the tambos to keep a record of what they sell to travellers, for the mitas, for herders to keep track of their livestock, and for other matters.
And even though many Indians know how to read and write and have traded their quipos for writing, which is without comparison a more accurate and easier method, still, in order to show the great subtlety of this method of preserving history and keeping accounts for people who had no writing and what they achieved with it, I wish to give the following example of what happened in our times.
Two Spaniards left together from the town of Ica to go to the city of Castro Virreina, and arriving at the tambo of Cordoba, which is a day’s travel from Ica, one of them stayed there and the other continued his trip; at this tambo this latter traveller was given an Indian guide to accompany him to Castro Virreina. This Indian killed the Spaniard on the road and returned to the tambo. After some time passed, since the Spaniard was very well known, he was missed. The governor of Castro Virreina, who at that time was Pedro de Cordoba Mejia, a native of Jaen, made a special investigation to find out what had happened. And in case the man had been killed, he sent a large number of Indians to look for the body in the puna and desert. But no sign of him could be found, nor could anyone find out what had become of him until more than six years after he had been killed.
By chance the body of another Spaniard was found in a cave of the same desert. The governor ordered that this body be brought to the plaza so that it could be seen, and once it was brought, it looked like the one the Indian had killed, and, believing that it was he, the governor continued witht he investigation to discover the killer.
Not finding any trace or evidence against anybody, he was advised to make an effort to find out the identity of the Indian who was given to the deceased as a guide at the tambo or Cordoba. The Indians would know this in spite of the fiact that more than six years had passed because by means of the record of the quipos they would have kept memory of it. With this the governor sent for the caciques and quipo camayos.
After they were brought to him and he continued with the investigation, the quipo camayos found out by their quipos the identity of the Indian who had been given as a guide to the aforementioned Spaniard. The Indian guide was brought prisoner immediately from his town, called Guaytara, and, having given his declaration in which he denied the crime, he was questioned under torture, and at once confessed to having killed the man, but explained that the wrong body had been brought. However, he would show them the place where he had killed the man and where the body was located.
Police officers went with him to the puna, and they found the body where the Indian guide had hidden it, and it was in a cave located some distance from the road. With the great cold and dryness of the paramo, the body had not decomposed, but it had dried out, and thus it was whole. The first body that was brought was never identified, nor was the killer.
The extent of the achievement of the record and memory of the quipos can be appreciated by this case.”
Source: History of the Inca Empire: An account of the Indians’ customs and their origin together with a treatise on Inca legends, history and social institutions by Father Bernabe Cobo Translated and edited by Roland Hamilton University of Texas Press 1979 Third reprinting 1991 This book is an excerpt from Historia del Nuevo Mundo a much larger manuscript completed in 1653 by Bernabe Cobo, a Peruvian Jesuit
From Bruce Sterling
[Bruce Sterling remarks: Mr. Byrn’s ruminations on media evolution are of particular interest. Note his remarkable dead-media nostalgia for “the dusty archives of the patent office.” Will the “coming generation” render the judgement of history—or is the subject “beyond human estimate” and too impressive for speculation?] ”As the art of telegraphy grows apace toward the end of the Nineteenth Century, individuality of invention becomes lost in the great maze of modifications, ramifications, and combinations. Inventions become merged into systems, and systems become swallowed up by companies. In the promises of living inventors the wish is too often father to the thought, and the conservative man sees the child of promise rise in great expectation, flourish for a few years, and then subside to quiet rest in the dusty archives of the Patent Office. They all contribute their quota of value, but it is so difficult to single out any one of those which as yet are on probation, that we must leave to the coming generation the task of making meritorious selection.
“Today the telegraph is the great nerve system of the nation’s body, and it ramifies and vitalizes every part with sensitive force.
“In 1899 the Western Union Telegraph Company alone had 22,285 offices, 904,633 miles of wire, sent 61,398,157 messages, received in money $23,954,312, and enjoyed a profit of $5,868,733.
“Add to this the business of the Postal Telegraph Company and other companies, and it becomes well nigh impossible to grasp the magnitude of this tremendous factor of Nineteenth Century progress. Figures fail to become impressive after they reach the higher denominations, and it may not add much to either the reader’s conception or his knowledge to say that the statistics for the whole world for the year 1898 show: 103,832 telegraph offices, 2,989,803 miles of wire, and 365,453,526 messages sent during that year. This wire would extend around the earth about 120 times, and the messages amounted to one million a day for every day in that year. This is for land telegraphs only, and does not include cable messages.
“What saving has accrued to the world in the matter of time, and what development in values in the various departments of life, and what contributions to human comfort and happiness the telegraph has brought about, is beyond human estimate, and is too impressive a thought for speculation.”
Source: The Progress of Invention in the 19
th
Century by Edward W. Byrn Munn and Co., Publishers, Scientific American Office, 361 Broadway, New York 1900
From Richard Kadrey
The Romance of Flowers
“Language of flowers dictionaries which had their first popularity in Paris, were subsequently published in English with equal success. Le Langage des Fleurs by Mme. Charlotte de la Tour was the first flower dictionary, published in Paris in 1818. The great delight of the English in these books began in the day of George IV and continued through the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign.
“The Americans were slower to become enthusiastic and started to take an interest somewhat later. ‘Le Langage des Fleurs’ ran to eighteen editions and Mme. Charlotte de la Tour was a toast of Paris society. It would have been to her displeasure that her book was pirated in America and Spain, although it proved flowers speak an international language.
“In the era of Victorian manners and morals with the accent on gentility, shy Victorians used language-of- flowers books to express their sentiments when they were loath to let words pass their lips.
“One Victorian writer declared that with the help of a flower language book, a courting couple walking decorously in the garden could present flowers to each other and carry on a conversation of considerable wit, compliments and flirtation banter.”
Flowers and their meaning
ARBOR VITAE - Unchanging friendship.
CAMELIA, WHITE. - Loveliness.
CANDY-TUFF. - Indifference.
CARNATION, DEEP RED. - Alas! for my poor heart.
CARNATION, WHITE. - Disdain.
CHINA-ASTER. - Variety.
CLOVER, FOUR-LEAF. - Be mine.
CLOVER, WHITE. - Think of me.
CLOVER, RED. - Industry.
COLUMBINE. - Folly.
COLUMBINE, PURPLE. - Resolved to win.
DAISY. - Innocence.
DEAD LEAVES. - Sadness.
DEADLY NIGHTSHADE. - Falsehood.
FERN. - Fascination.
FORGET-ME-NOT. - True love. Forget me not.
FUCHSIA, SCARLET. - Taste.
GERANIUM, SCARLET. - Consolation.
GERANIUM, ROSE. - Preference.
GOLDEN-ROD. - Be cautious.
HELIOTROPE. - Devotion.
HONEY-FLOWER. - Love, sweet and secret.
HYACINTH, WHITE. - Unobtrusive loveliness.
IVY. - Fidelity.
LADY’S SLIPPER. - Win me and wear me.
LILY, DAY. - Coquetry
LILY, WHITE. - Sweetness.
LILY, YELLOW. - Gaiety.
LILY OF THE VALLEY. - Return of happiness.
MIGNONETTE. - Your qualities surpass your charms.
MONKSHEAD. - Danger is near.
MYRTLE. - Love.
OATS. - The witching soul of music.
ORANGE BLOSSOMS. - Chastity.
PANSY. - Thoughts.
PASSION FLOWER. - Faith.
PEACH BLOSSOM. - I am your captive.
PEAR. - Affection.
PRIMROSE. - Inconstancy.
QUAKING GRASS. - Agitation.
ROSE. - Love.
ROSE, DEEP RED. - Bashful shame.
ROSE, YELLOW. - Jealousy.
ROSE, WHITE. - I am worthy of you.
ROSEBUD, MOSS. - Confession of love.
SHAMROCK. - Lightheartedness.
STRAW. - Agreement.
STRAW, BROKEN. - Broken agreement.
SWEEP PEA. - Depart.
TUBEROSE. - Dangerous pleasures.
VERBENA. - Pray for me.
WITCH HAZEL. - A spell.
From Bruce Sterling
“Occupying an intermediate place between the old-fashioned scribe and the printer, the typewriter has in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century established a distinct and important avocation, and has become a necessary factor in modern business life.
“Like most other important inventions, the typewriter did not spring into existence all at once, for while the practical embodiment in really useful machines has only taken place since about 1868, there have been many experiments and some success attained at a much earlier date. The British patent to Henry Mills, No. 395 of 1714, is the earliest record of efforts in this direction. At this early date no drawings were attached to patents, and the specification dwells more on the function of the machine than the instrumentalities employed. No record of the construction of this machine remains in existence, and it may be fairly considered a lost art.
“In quaint and old-fashioned English, the patent specification proceeds as follows: “’ANNE, by the Grace of God, &c., to all whome these presents shall come, greeting: WHEREAS, our trusty and well-beloved subject, Henry Mills, hath by his humble peticon represented vnto vs, that he has by his greate study, paines, and expence, lately invented, and brought to perfection ‘An Artificial Machine or Method for the Impressing or Transcribing Letters Singly or Progressively one after another as in Writing, whereby all Writing whatever may be Engrossed in Paper or Parchment so Neat and Exact as not to be Distinguished from Print, that the said Machine or method, may be of greate vse in Settlements and Publick Recors, the Impression being deeper and more Lasting than any other Writing, and not to be erased, or Counterfeited without Manifest Discovery, and having therefore humbly prayed vs to grant him our Royall Letters Patents, for the sole vse of his said Invention for the term of fourteen yeares.’”
Source The Progress of Invention in the 19
th
Century by Edward W. Byrn Munn and Co., Publishers, Scientific American Office, 361 Broadway, New York 1900
From Bruce Sterling
“It is not practicable to give a full illustration of the state of the art in typewriters, as it has grown to an industry of large proportions. Nearly 1,700 patents have been granted for such machines, and more than 100 useful and meritorious machines have been devised and put upon the market. Among these may be mentioned the Hall, Underwood, Manhattan, Williams, Jewett, and many others.
“Besides the regular typewriters, various modifications have been made to suit special kinds of work. The ‘Comptometer’ used in banks is a species of typewriter, as is also the Dudley adding and subtracting machine, known as the ‘Numerograph,’ and covered by patents Nos. 554,993, 555,038, 555,039, 579,047 and 579, 048. Typewriters for short hand characters, and for foreign languages, and for printing on record and blank books, are also among the modern developments of this art. In the latter the whole carriage and system of type levers move over the book. The Elliott & Hatch book typewriter, Fig. 143, is a well-known example.
[To judge by the Fig. 143 engraving, the Elliott & Hatch clamped onto blank books via a pair of parallel metal rails, set at the book’s spine and page margin. The Elliott & Hatch typed directly onto bound pages.]
“It was estimated that there were in use in the United States in 1896 150,000 typewriters, and that up to that time 450,000 had been made altogether. In the last four years that number has been greatly increased, and a fair estimate of the present output in the United States is between 75,000 and 100,000 yearly.
“The typewriter saves time, labor, postage and paper; it reduces the liability to mistakes, brings system into official correspondence, and delights the heart of the printer. It furnishes profitable amusement to the young, and satisfactory aid to the nervous and paralytic. All over the world it has already travelled, from the counting house of the merchant to the Imperial Courts of Europe, from the home of the new woman in the Western Hemisphere to the harem of the East, everywhere its familiar click is to be heard, faithfully translating thought into all languages, and for all peoples.”
Source: The Progress of Invention in the 19
th
Century by Edward W. Byrn Munn and Co., Publishers, Scientific American Office, 361 Broadway, New York 1900
From Bruce Sterling
[Bruce Sterling remarks: I confess myself deeply puzzled by this brief squib in Byrn’s book, which seems to refer to a physical transfer system which was common in 1900 and now utterly forgotten.
“Cash carriers?” “Whisking little cars?” The oddest aspect is Byrn’s complete offhandedness regarding this technology, which he seems to regard as a commonplace. It can’t be a pneumatic tube cash conveyor, as it seems highly unlikely that the capsules in a pneumatic tube system could be described as “little cars.” Can anyone offer a suggestion as to what Byrn is talking about?]