has by no means been
universal. That it is more frequently met with than any other origin is
unquestionably true; but in many instances, which will be more fully
considered in the following chapter, we find strictly non-digital
derivations, especially in the case of the lowest members of the scale. But
in nearly all languages the origin of the words for 1, 2, 3, and 4 are so
entirely unknown that speculation respecting them is almost useless.

An excellent illustration of the ordinary method of formation which obtains
among number scales is furnished by the Eskimos of Point Barrow,[70] who
have pure numeral words up to 5, and then begin a systematic course of word
formation from the names of their fingers. If the names of the first five
numerals are of finger origin, they have so completely lost their original
form, or else the names of the fingers themselves have so changed, that no
resemblance is now to be detected between them. This scale is so
interesting that it is given with considerable fulness, as follows:

1. atauzik.
2. madro.
3. pinasun.
4. sisaman.
5. tudlemut.
6. atautyimin akbinigin [tudlimu(t)] = 5 and 1 on the next.
7. madronin akbinigin = twice on the next.
8. pinasunin akbinigin = three times on the next.
9. kodlinotaila = that which has not its 10.
10. kodlin = the upper part--_i.e._ the fingers.
14. akimiaxotaityuna = I have not 15.
15. akimia. [This seems to be a real numeral word.]
20. inyuina = a man come to an end.
25. inyuina tudlimunin akbinidigin = a man come to an end and 5 on the
next.
30. inyuina kodlinin akbinidigin = a man come to an end and 10 on the
next.
35. inyuina akimiamin aipalin = a man come to an end accompanied by 1
fifteen times.
40. madro inyuina = 2 men come to an end.

In this scale we find the finger origin appearing so clearly and so
repeatedly that one feels some degree of surprise at finding 5 expressed by
a pure numeral instead of by some word meaning _hand_ or _fingers of one
hand_. In this respect the Eskimo dialects are somewhat exceptional among
scales built up of digital words. The system of the Greenland Eskimos,
though differing slightly from that of their Point Barrow cousins, shows
the same peculiarity. The first ten numerals of this scale are:[71]

1. at