One special point to be noticed in this scale is the irregularity that prevails between 7, 8, 9.  The formation of 7 is of the most ordinary kind; 8 is 2 fours—­common enough duplication; while 9 appears to be 10 — 1.  All of these modes of compounding are, in their own way, regular; but the irregularity consists in using all three of them in connective numerals in the same system.  But, odd as this jumble seems, it is more than matched by that found in the scale of the Karankawa Indians,[102] an extinct tribe formerly inhabiting the coast region of Texas.  The first ten numerals of this singular array are: 

   1. natsa.
   2. haikia.
   3. kachayi.
   4. hayo hakn = 2 x 2.
   5. natsa behema = 1 father, i.e. of the fingers.
   6. hayo haikia = 3 x 2?
   7. haikia natsa = 2 + 5?
   8. haikia behema = 2 fathers?
   9. haikia doatn = 2d from 10?
  10. doatn habe.

Systems like the above, where chaos instead of order seems to be the ruling principle, are of occasional occurrence, but they are decidedly the exception.

In some of the cases that have been adduced for illustration it is to be noticed that the process of combination begins with 7 instead of with 6.  Among others, the scale of the Pigmies of Central Africa[103] and that of the Mosquitos[104] of Central America show this tendency.  In the Pigmy scale the words for 1 and 6 are so closely akin that one cannot resist the impression that 6 was to them a new 1, and was thus named.

       MOSQUITO.  PIGMY.

   1. kumi. ujju.
   2. wal. ibari.
   3. niupa. ikaro.
   4. wal-wal = 2-2. ikwanganya.
   5. mata-sip = fingers of 1 hand. bumuti.
   6. matlalkabe. ijju.
   7. matlalkabe pura kumi = 6 and 1. bumutti-na-ibali = 5 and 2.
   8. matlalkabe pura wal = 6 and 2. bumutti-na-ikaro = 5 and 3.
   9. matlalkabe pura niupa = 6 and 3. bumutti-na-ikwanganya = 5 and 4.
  10. mata wal sip = fingers of 2 hands. mabo = half man.

The Mosquito scale is quite exceptional in forming 7, 8, and 9 from 6, instead of from 5.  The usual method, where combinations appear between 6 and 10, is exhibited by the Pigmy scale.  Still another species of numeral form, quite different from any that have already been noticed, is found in the Yoruba[105] scale, which is in many respects one of the most peculiar in existence.  Here the words for 11, 12, etc., are formed by adding the suffix _-la_, great, to the words for 1, 2, etc., thus: 

    1. eni, or okan.
    2. edzi.
    3. eta.
    4. erin.
    5. arun.
    6. efa.
    7. edze.
    8. edzo.
    9. esan.
   10. ewa.
   11. okanla = great 1.
   12. edzila = great 2.
   13. etala = great 3.
   14. erinla = great 4, etc.
   40. ogodzi = string.
  200. igba = heap.