It is the first of the natural systems. When the savage has
finished his count of the fingers of a single hand, he has reached this
natural number base. At this point he ceases to use simple numbers, and
begins the process of compounding. By some one of the numerous methods
illustrated in earlier chapters, he passes from 5 to 10, using here the
fingers of his second hand. He now has two fives; and, just as we say
"twenty," _i.e._ two tens, he says "two hands," "the second hand finished,"
"all the fingers," "the fingers of both hands," "all the fingers come to an
end," or, much more rarely, "one man." That is, he is, in one of the many
ways at his command, saying "two fives." At 15 he has "three hands" or "one
foot"; and at 20 he pauses with "four hands," "hands and feet," "both
feet," "all the fingers of hands and feet," "hands and feet finished," or,
more probably, "one man." All these modes of expression are strictly
natural, and all have been found in the number scales which were, and in
many cases still are, in daily use among the uncivilized races of mankind.
In its structure the quinary is the simplest, the most primitive, of the
natural systems. Its base is almost always expressed by a word meaning
"hand," or by some equivalent circumlocution, and its digital origin is
usually traced without difficulty. A consistent formation would require the
expression of 10 by some phrase meaning "two fives," 15 by "three fives,"
etc.
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