ariety of ways, and where mere reduplication often
serves in place of any independent names for higher units. To what extent
this may be carried is shown by the language of the Cayubabi,[132] who have
for 10 the word _tunca_, and for 100 and 1000 the compounds _tunca tunca_,
and _tunca tunca tunca_ respectively; or of the Sapibocones, who call 10
_bururuche_, hand hand, and 100 _buruche buruche_, hand hand hand
hand.[133] More remarkable still is the Ojibwa language, which continues
its numeral scale without limit, furnishing combinations which are really
remarkable; as, _e.g._, that for 1,000,000,000, which is _me das wac me das
wac as he me das wac_,[134] 1000 x 1000 x 1000. The Winnebago expression
for the same number,[135] _ho ke he hhuta hhu chen a ho ke he ka ra pa ne
za_ is no less formidable, but it has every appearance of being an honest,
native combination. All such primitive terms for larger numbers must,
however, be received with caution. Savages are sometimes eager to display a
knowledge they do not possess, and have been known to invent numeral words
on the spot for the sake of carrying their scales to as high a limit as
possible. The Choctaw words for million and billion are obvious attempts to
incorporate the corresponding English terms into their own language.[136]
For million they gave the vocabulary-hunter the phrase _mil yan chuffa_,
and for billion, _bil yan chuffa_. The word _chuffa_ signifies 1, hence
these expressions are seen at a glance to be coined solely for the purpose
of gratifying a little harmless Choctaw vanity. But this is innocence
itself compared with the fraud perpetrated on Labillardiere by the Tonga
Islanders, who supplied the astonished and delighted investigator with a
numeral vocabulary up to quadrillions. Their real limit was afterward found
to be 100,000, and above that point they had palmed off as numerals a
tolerably complete list of the obscene words of their language, together
with a few nonsense terms. These were all accepted and printed in good
faith, and the humiliating truth was not discovered until years
afterward.[137]

One noteworthy and interesting fact relating to numeral nomenclature is the
variation in form which words of this class undergo when applied to
different classes of objects. To one accustomed as we are to absolute and
unvarying forms for numerals, this seems at first a novel and almost
unaccountable linguistic freak. But it is not uncommon among uncivi