Inca Administrators And Common People

The Inca administrators attempted to restrict the movement of the common people by allowing them only three markets days a month, but trading went on all the time, because the people enjoyed it.

Always there was an exchange of artifacts; and people, carrying bundles, went back and forth along the highways.

An Indian man placed his bundle in a sack and tied the ends of the sack across his chest. Heavier bundles were supported by a band across the forehead. A woman wore a shawl, fastened in front with a pin, and wrapped her bundle inside it.

She sometimes slipped the shawl over her head when she did not want to be stared at. Both men and women used the walking time to spin thread.

The Men, huddled inside their wool capes, kept a steady pace despite worn sandals and rough, wet stone pavements.

A woman walked behind her husband, her spindle twirling, and her baby secure on her back. The child, lulled to sleep by the rhythm of his mother’s walking, was no trouble at all.

When he asked for food, the mother either nursed him or fed him some corncake, which she carried in a bag across the chest.