Such is, as we have already seen, the ordinary method of progression, but it is not universal.

A drop in the scale of civilization takes us to a point where 10, instead of 20, becomes the whole man.

The Kusaies,[110] of Strong's Island, call 10 _sie-nul_, 1 man, 30 _tol-nul_, 3 men, 40 _a naul_, 4 men, etc.; and the Ku-Mbutti[111] of central Africa have _mukko_, 10, and _moku_, man.

If 10 is to be expressed by reference to the man, instead of his hands, it might appear more natural to employ some such expression as that adopted by the African Pigmies,[112] who call 10 _mabo_, and man _mabo-mabo_.

With them, then, 10 is perhaps "half a man," as it actually is among the Towkas of South America; and we have already seen that with the Aztecs it was _matlactli_, the "hand half" of a man.[113] The same idea crops out in the expression used by the Nicobar Islanders for 30--_heam-umdjome ruktei_, 1 man (and a) half.[114] Such nomenclature is entirely natural, and it accords with the analogy offered by other words of frequent occurrence in the numeral scales of savage races.