In the extensive vocabularies given by Von Martins,[28]
many similar examples are found. For the Bororos he gives only _couai_, 1,
_maeouai_, 2, _ouai_, 3. The last word, with the proper finger pantomime,
serves also for any higher number which falls within the grasp of their
comprehension. The Guachi manage to reach 5, but their numeration is of the
rudest kind, as the following scale shows: _tamak_, 1, _eu-echo,_ 2,
_eu-echo-kailau,_ 3, _eu-echo-way,_ 4, _localau_, 5. The Carajas counted by
a scale equally rude, and their conception of number seemed equally vague,
until contact with the neighbouring tribes furnished them with the means of
going beyond their original limit. Their scale shows clearly the uncertain,
feeble number sense which is so marked in the interior of South America. It
contains _wadewo_, 1, _wadebothoa_, 2, _wadeboaheodo_, 3, _wadebojeodo_,
4, _wadewajouclay_, 5, _wadewasori_, 6, or many.
Turning to the languages of the extinct, or fast vanishing, tribes of
Australia, we find a still more noteworthy absence of numeral expressions.
In the Gudang dialect[29] but two numerals are found--_pirman_, 1, and
_ilabiu_, 2; in the Weedookarry, _ekkamurda_, 1, and _kootera_, 2; and in
the Queanbeyan, _midjemban_, 1, and _bollan_, 2. In a score or more of
instances the numerals stop at 3. The natives of Keppel Bay count _webben_,
1, _booli_, 2, _koorel_, 3; of the Boyne River, _karroon_, 1, _boodla_, 2,
_numma_, 3; of the Flinders River, _kooroin_, 1, _kurto_, 2, _kurto
kooroin_, 3; at the mouth of the Norman River, _lum_, 1, _buggar_, 2,
_orinch_, 3; the Eaw tribe, _koothea_, 1, _woother_, 2, _marronoo_, 3; the
Moree, _mal_, 1, _boolar_, 2, _kooliba_, 3; the Port Essington,[30] _erad_,
1, _nargarick_, 2, _nargarickelerad_, 3; the Darnly Islanders,[31] _netat_,
1, _naes_, 2, _naesa netat_, 3; and so on through a long list of tribes
whose numeral scales are equally scanty.
Pages:
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36