Savage tribes, as might be expected, begin with the left hand.

Not only is this custom almost invariable, when tribes as a whole are considered, but the little finger is nearly always called into requisition first.

To account for this uniformity, Lieutenant Gushing gives the following theory,[10] which is well considered, and is based on the results of careful study and observation among the Zuni Indians of the Southwest: "Primitive man when abroad never lightly quit hold of his weapons.

If he wanted to count, he did as the Zuni afield does to-day; he tucked his instrument under his left arm, thus constraining the latter, but leaving the right hand free, that he might check off with it the fingers of the rigidly elevated left hand.

From the nature of this position, however, the palm of the left hand was presented to the face of the counter, so that he had to begin his score on the little finger of it, and continue his counting from the right leftward.
An inheritance of this may be detected to-day in the confirmed habit the Zuni has of gesticulating from the right leftward, with the fingers of the right hand over those of the left, whether he be counting and summing up, or relating in any orderly manner." Here, then, is the reason for this otherwise unaccountable phenomenon.