THOMAS] DISCUSSION AND COMPARISONS 919 
Bribri ( Talamancan tribe, Costa Rica) } 
eet: 5 skang. 
2 ‘but. 6 terl. 
3) mnyat. 7 kugu. 
4 keng, ka. $8 osehtan, pai, pa. 
Brunca ( Talamanecan tribe, Costa Rica) * 
1 etsik. 5 kehisskan. 
2 bug. 6 teschan. 
3 mang. 7 kuehk. 
4+ bachkan. 8 ochtan. 
Carrizo (near Monelova, Coahuila) * 
1 pequeten. 4 naiye. 
2 acequeten. 5 miaguele. 
3 guiye. 
DISCUSSION AND COMPARISONS 
Before I discuss these lists and attempt to draw conclusions from 
them, there is one point which deserves notice. It is this: To what 
extent can these number lists be considered reliable? I do not 
by this inquiry wish to question the veracity of any author whose 
works I have quoted or used, but to refer to the method by which 
the lists were obtained, especially the portions relating to the high 
numbers. Did the Maya, Aztec, and other tribes make use in actual 
count or computation of thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of 
thousands, and even millions as given in these lists, or have they been 
filled out, in part, by the authors according to the systems found in 
vogue? That implicit reliance can be placed on the judgment and 
accuracy of the more recent authorities who, as is known, derived 
their information direct from the natives, as Stoll, Gatschet, ete., is 
conceded, but the lists given by these authors seldom if ever reach 
beyond the thousand. Most of the lists from the tribes of Mexico 
and Central America, which run into high numbers, are given by the 
early authors (chiefly Spanish) or are based on their statements. 
When the Mexicans spoke of caxtol-tzontli=15 tzontli (6,000); ceni- 
poal-wiquiplli=2Ww xviquipilli (160,000); and cem-poal-tzon-xiquipilli= 
20 times 400 wiquipilli (64,000,000—see list), did they have in thought 
the actual numbers given as equivalents of these terms, or merely 
measures?! When, for example, they said, ** 15 tzontli” (tzontli signi- 
fying bundle or package) did they intend to signify 15400, or 
simply 15 bundles or packages? In other words, did the reference 
Q 



1 Adolph Uhle, in Compte Rendu Cong. Americanistes, Berlin, 1888, p. 474. 
2Tbid., p. 475. 
8’Uhle, Die Lander am untern Rio Bravo del Norte, p. 120, quoted by Brinton, American Race, p. 93. 
