924 NUMERAL SYSTEMS [ETH. ANN, 19 
purely original method of counting to one more recent. It is, in fact, 
doubtful whether the lists more recently obtained from the natiyes 
give throughout the true original method of counting and the ante- 
Columbian names. There is nothing, however, in the number names 
of the Shoshonean dialects above 10 to indicate any system other than 
the decimal. 
It appears, therefore, from the data presented, that the vigesimal 
system prevailed in Mexico and Central America from southern 
Sonora to the southern boundary of Guatemala, and to some extent as 
far as the isthmus. There seem to have been but few, if any, tribes 
in this area as far south as the southern boundary of Guatemala that 
did not make use of this system; at least the data obtainable bear out 
this conclusion. North of the northern boundary of this area this 
system is found, according to Conant,’ ‘‘in the northern regions of 
North America, in western Canada, and in northwestern United States”; 
however, the only examples he gives are the systems of the **Alaskan 
Eskimos,” ‘‘Tchiglit,” ‘* Tlingit,” ‘‘ Nootka,” and “Tsimshian.” As 
a general rule the systems of the tribes of the western part of the 
United States, from the southern boundary to the Columbia river, 
were decimal or quinary-decimal; however, instances of the vigesimal 
system appear here and there in this area. As one example we call 
attention to the numerals of the Hachnon dialect of the Yukian 
family obtained by Mr Stephen Powers at Round Valley reservation, 
California, given in the preceding chapter. 
That a count referring the minor numbers to the next higher base, 
which is, as we have seen, confined in the southern regions almost 
exclusively to the dialects of the more southern sections, chiefly to 
those of the Mayan group, should be found in California is, to say 
the least, interesting; however, it is not the only example from this 
section, as willappear. It is somewhat singular that two other idioms 
of the same family, the vocabularies of which are given by Mr Powers, 
follow the decimal instead of the vigesimal system. Other examples 
of this system are found south of the Columbia river, as in the Pomo 
dialect (Round Valley reservation, California);* the Tuolumne dialect 
(Tuolumne river, California); * 
and the Achomawi dialect.” The first, third, and fourth of these 
the Konkau and Nishinam dialects. 
appear to refer the count to the following score, while in the last 
(Achomawi) it is applied to the preceding score. The Tuolumne sys- 
tem is somewhat doubtful, as there are but two numbers (20 and 100) 
on which to base a decision. According to Major Powell’s classifica- 
tion (7th Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethnology), the Pomo are included in the 

1 Number Concept, p. 195 4 Powers, op. cil., p. 596. 
2 Powers, Tribes of California, p. 502. STbid., p. 606. 
$Gibbs, op. cit., p. 548. 
