The provinces were visited periodically by high
officials who went a round of inspection, and at the same
time listened to complaints ; these were registered and
referred to Cuzco whence judges were sent to administer
justice. But it was only the most serious offences which
came before them ; in each village was a magistrate who
tried cases of less importance, and inflicted summary
penalties in accordance with a definite code. The various
subordinate inspectors were obliged to report the small-
est misdemeanours to their superior officers, under pain
of suffering double the penalty attached to the offence ;
the local judges kept strict account of the cases which
had come before them, and the quipus on which these
cases were recorded were liable to scrutiny by the travel-
ling inspectors. Serious crime, or indeed crime of any
sort, seems to have been exceedingly rare ; partly no
doubt owing to the elaborate system of supervision,
and partly owing to the fact that the ordinances of the
Inca were regarded as divine commands, but partly also
by reason of the natural docility of the Peruvian. Then
too, as regards the most serious offences of all, a man's
relations, and even his entire village, were held respon-
sible for his acts and shared his punishment. This
system of collective responsibility is common in primi-
tive communities, and invariably proves to be an ex-
tremely efficient check upon crime. Children were not
exempt from the law, and special punishments were
allotted to them, but their fathers were punished at the
same time, because a child's naughtiness was held to be
the result of bad up-bringing. The chief punishments
were flogging and death, fines of course did not exist
among a people where there was practically no private
property. Besides the regular inspections there were
also occasions, occurring at irregular intervals, when the



no SOUTH AMERICAN ARCHiEOLOGY

Inca himself made a visitation of his empire, a proceed-
ing which, in the days of its greatest extent, occupied
several years.
