ystems.

In numeral scales where the formative process has been of the general
nature just exhibited, irregularities of various kinds are of frequent
occurrence. Hand numerals may appear, and then suddenly disappear, just
where we should look for them with the greatest degree of certainty. In the
Ende,[101] a dialect of the Flores Islands, 5, 6, and 7 are of hand
formation, while 8 and 9 are of entirely different origin, as the scale
shows.

1. sa.
2. zua.
3. telu.
4. wutu.
5. lima
6. lima sa = hand 1.
7. lima zua = hand 2.
8. rua butu = 2 x 4.
9. trasa = 10 - 1?
10. sabulu.

One special point to be noticed in this scale is the irregularity that
prevails between 7, 8, 9. The formation of 7 is of the most ordinary kind;
8 is 2 fours--common enough duplication; while 9 appears to be 10 - 1. All
of these modes of compounding are, in their own way, regular; but the
irregularity consists in using all three of them in connective numerals in
the same system. But, odd as this jumble seems, it is more than matched by
that found in the scale of the Karankawa Indians,[102] an extinct tribe
formerly inhabiting the coast region of Texas. The first ten numerals of
this singular array are:

1. natsa.
2. haikia.
3. kachayi.
4. hayo hakn = 2 x 2.
5. natsa behema = 1 father, _i.e._ of the fingers.
6. hayo haikia = 3 x 2?
7. haikia natsa = 2 + 5?
8. haikia behema = 2 fathers?
9. haikia doatn = 2d from 10?
10. doatn habe.

Systems like the above, where chaos instead of order seems to be the ruling
principle, are of occasional occurrence, but they are decidedly the
exception.

In some of the cases that have been adduced for illustration it is to be
noticed that the process of combination begins with 7 instead of with 6.
Among others, the scale of the Pigmies of Central Africa[103] and that of
the Mosquitos[104] of Central America show this tendency. In the Pigmy
scale the words for 1 and 6 are so closely akin that one cannot resist the
impression that 6 was to them a new 1, and was thus named.

MOSQUITO. PIGMY.

1. kumi. ujju.
2. wal. ibari.
3. niupa. ikaro.
4. wal-wal = 2-2. ikwanganya.
5. mata-sip = fingers of 1 hand. bumuti.
6. matlalkabe.