28 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and of the action of the atmosphere on the surface of spiral curves, 

 but which, like most great inventions, was unquestionably discovered 

 by accident. Yet with all their sagacity and shrewdness, they are 

 so low down in the scale of intelligence as not to be able to count 

 more than five: one is " garro," two "boo," three " koromde," four 

 " wogaro," and five " boo koromde," compounded of two and three; 



higher members are not differentiated, but 

 lumped together as " meian," many. It 

 would seem to us quite natural that they 

 should be able to count at least as high as 

 ten with the aid of the fingers of both 

 hands, but such is not the case. An 

 Australian can keep a record of twenty or 

 thirty objects by making a notch for each 

 one in a stick, but he has no name for this 

 sum total and can not carry it in his head. 

 Even the blacks who have learned a little 

 English are incapable of using the Eng- 

 lish numerals beyond six with any degree 

 of accuracy. Mackenzie, one of the most 

 intelligent of the natives in Semon's serv- 

 ice, could by this means count as far as ten 

 and perform very simple processes of addi- 

 tion ; thus, for example, if he caught three 

 ant-eaters yesterday and four to-day, he 

 knew that taken together they made seven. 

 But this was the extreme limit of his 

 arithmetical computations; if he brought in three animals on each 

 of three days, he could tell how many there were in all only by 

 producing his tally; the multiplication of three by three was a 

 mental operation far too complicated for him. As with num- 

 ber concepts, so with all abstract ideas, the Australians are in- 

 capable of forming them, and have therefore no words to ex- 

 press them. They have no collective names for animal and plant. 

 They perceive very clearly the difference between the various spe- 

 cies of venomous serpents in which their country abounds, but they 

 have no terms by which to distinguish one genus from another, but 

 call the whole family " wonge " ; while " bui " is used to designate 

 the harmless and edible serpents, of which the Python spilotes is 

 the most conspicuous representative. Still more remarkable, per- 

 haps, is the want of distinct designations for colors; they have 

 separate words for the extremes of white, " bambar," and black, 

 but not for the primary and composite colors red, 



Papuan Carvings on Cocoanut 

 Vase. This carving is cut 

 into the surface of the cocoa- 

 nut, a sort of intaglio, which 

 the Italians call graffiti. 



" ngurue," * 



* The literal meaning of which is " dirty." 



