NELSON] SYSTEM OF NUMERATION etl 
until the right thumb, or number five, is reached. Passing thence to 
the little finger of the left hand for six, the fingers of this hand are 
opened successively until the left thumb and ten are reached. As ten is 
said the two hands, thumbs near together and fingers all outstretched, 
palms down, are extended a little from the body. Then the right foot is 
advanced a little and the right forefinger points at the little toe of that 
foot as the counter says dt-khakh/-tok. This word ordinarily means ‘it 
goes down,” and is used here both to indicate the descent in counting 
from hands to feet as well as having, at times, an acquired meaning in 
this connection of eleven. The toes are counted from right to left until 
the right great toe is reached, when both hands with open fingers, 
palms down, are extended toward the right foot, which is advanced a 
little more as the counter announces fifteen. The counter then lets the 
left hand fall by the side and points at the left great toe, saying, gukh/-tok, 
meaning “it goes over,” and sometimes conveying in this connection 
the acquired meaning of sixteen, as well as the going “‘over” of the 
count from one side of the body to the other. The other toes of the left 
foot are then enumerated from right to left, and as the small toe is 
reached, if the person be sitting, he extends both feet in front of him, 
doing the same with his hands, palms down, and says twenty; if he be 
standing, then the open hands are extended downward with a slight 
motion and the number is spoken. 
The use of dt-khakh'-tok and gukh'-tok for numerals, as given above, 
is not uncommon among the intelligent people who are able to count 
readily up to twenty in a single series of numerals. Among the igno- 
rant and slow-witted twenty is reached by making up four series of num- 
bers running from one to five. In cases of this kind these two words 
are used between ten and eleven and fifteen and sixteen, simply to 
convey their regular meaning. They are most commonly used in count- 
ing the fingers and toes, when their application is quite natural; but 
often they are used in counting various other objects, and seem to be 
in a transitional state toward becoming the regularly recognized numer- 
als. When used as numerals, as noted above, their meaning in that 
sense seems to be recognized by everyone. 
Two is usually mél/-vi-ghik, but it is often replaced by ai/-pa, which 
means second, or a pair. This latter word is used commonly to desig- 
nate one of a pair, such, for instance, as in speaking of the close friend 
of another person, who is referred to as his ai/-pd. The name for the 
right arm and hand taken together is téi-hlik!-pike 
The term for five is té-hli/-mik. The right hand alone is called 
tii-hlik'-pim ai/-hi (ai'-hik = hand, either right or left). 
Nine is ko/-lin-o-gho-tai’-lin-un, from ko-lin’, ten, and tai/-tik, not, or 
lacking; i. e., ten lacking one. 
Ko-lin’, ten, is from ko-hli’, the upper half or the upper part of the 
body, or the count of the fingers. The word half is ko/-kédn. 
Twenty is yu-i/-nik, trom yuk, man, and means ‘a man completed.” 
