Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1895 — How Esquimaux Count. [ARTICLE]

How Esquimaux Count.

The Esquimaux count their fingers—one, two, three, four, five. Above five and up to ten they use the second hand; thus, six is “the first finger of the other hand.” Above ten, they employ the toes. Thirteen, for instance, is “three toes upon the one foot,” and eighteen “three toes on the second foot” Twenty they describe as a “whole man.” They seldom go farther than this, but they can do so if necessary. For example, they express twen-ty-two by saying, “two on the second man;” thirty-seven by “two toes on the second man’s foot;” forty is “the whole of a second man.” According to Dr. Nansen they cannot, or at least do not, count beyond 100, which is “the whole of the fifth man.” A girl can have more fun dreaming of an impossibility than a man has with the money In his pocket