directly from _adang_, to count.[158] In the language of Mota, one of the
islands of Melanesia, 100 is _mel nol_, used and done with, referring to
the leaves of the cycas tree, with which the count had been carried
on.[159] In many other Melanesian dialects[160] 100 is _rau_, a branch or
leaf. In the Torres Straits we find the same number expressed by _na won_,
the close; and in Eromanga it is _narolim narolim_ (2 × 5)(2 × 5).[161]
This combination deserves remark only because of the involved form which
seems to have been required for the expression of so small a number as 100.
A compound instead of a simple term for any higher unit is never to be
wondered at, so rude are some of the savage methods of expressing number;
but "two fives (times) two fives" is certainly remarkable. Some form like
that employed by the Nusqually[162] of Puget Sound for 1000, i.e.
_paduts-subquätche_, ten hundred, is more in accordance with primitive
method. But we are equally likely to find such descriptive phrases for this
numeral as the _dor paka_, banyan roots, of the Torres Islands; _rau na
hai_, leaves of a tree, of Vaturana; or _udolu_, all, of the Fiji Islands.
And two curious phrases for 1000 are those of the Banks' Islands, _tar
mataqelaqela_, eye blind thousand, _i.e._ many beyond count; and of
Malanta, _warehune huto_, opossum's hairs, or _idumie one_, count the
sand.[163]

The native languages of India, Thibet, and portions of the Indian
archipelago furnish us with abundant instances of the formation of
secondary numeral scales, which were used only for special purposes, and
without in any way interfering with the use of the number words already in
use. "Thus the scholars of India, ages ago, selected a set of words for a
memoria technica, in order to record dates and numbers. These words they
chose for reasons which are still in great measure evident; thus 'moon' or
'earth' expressed 1, there being but one of each; 2 might be called 'eye,'
'wing,' 'arm,' 'jaw,' as going in pairs; for 3 they said 'Rama,' 'fire,' or