They hold the palm
downward instead of upward, and thus form a complete and striking exception
to the law which has been found to obtain with such substantial uniformity
in other parts of the uncivilized world. In Melanesia a few examples of
preference for beginning with the thumb may also be noticed. In the Banks
Islands the natives begin by turning down the thumb of the right hand, and
then the fingers in succession to the little finger, which is 5. This is
followed by the fingers of the left hand, both hands with closed fists
being held up to show the completed 10. In Lepers' Island, they begin with
the thumb, but, having reached 5 with the little finger, they do not pass
to the other hand, but throw up the fingers they have turned down,
beginning with the forefinger and keeping the thumb for 10.[16] In the use
of the single hand this people is quite peculiar. The second 5 is almost
invariably told off by savage tribes on the second hand, though in passing
from the one to the other primitive man does not follow any invariable law.
He marks 6 with either the thumb or the little finger. Probably the former
is the more common practice, but the statement cannot be made with any
degree of certainty. Among the Zulus the sequence is from thumb to thumb,
as is the case among the other South African tribes just mentioned; while
the Veis and numerous other African tribes pass from thumb to little
finger. The Eskimo, and nearly all the American Indian tribes, use the
correspondence between 6 and the thumb; but this habit is by no means
universal.
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