ugu.
10. megu = 2 x 5.
RIO NORTE AND SAN ANTONIO.[231]
5. juyopamauj.
10. juyopamauj ajte = 5 x 2.
API.[232]
5. lima.
10. lua-lima = 2 x 5.
ERROMANGO
5. suku-rim.
10. nduru-lim = 2 x 5.
TLINGIT, BRITISH COLUMBIA.[233]
5. kedjin (from djin = hand).
10. djinkat = both hands?
Thus far the quinary formation is simple and regular; and in view of the
evidence with which these and similar illustrations furnish us, it is most
surprising to find an eminent authority making the unequivocal statement
that the number 10 is nowhere expressed by 2 fives[234]--that all tribes
which begin their count on a quinary base express 10 by a simple word. It
is a fact, as will be fully illustrated in the following pages, that
quinary number systems, when extended, usually merge into either the
decimal or the vigesimal. The result is, of course, a compound of two, and
sometimes of three, systems in one scale. A pure quinary or vigesimal
number system is exceedingly rare; but quinary scales certainly do exist in
which, as far as we possess the numerals, no trace of any other influence
appears. It is also to be noticed that some tribes, like the Eskimos of
Point Barrow, though their systems may properly be classed as mixed
systems, exhibit a decided preference for 5 as a base, and in counting
objects, divided into groups of 5, obtaining the sum in this way.
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