Cherokee Phoenix

Indian Arithmetic.- Their manner of numbering evidences the extreme simplicity of their language. We

Published February, 28, 1828

Page 4 Column 4a

Indian Arithmetic.- Their manner of numbering evidences the extreme simplicity of their language. We have asked of all the tribes, with which we have met, their numerical terms, as far as a hundred. In some few, the terms are simple, as far as ten. In others, six is five-one, seven, five-two, and so on. Beyond ten, they universally count by reduplication of the tens. This they perform with great dexterity by a mechanical arithmetic, intricate to explain, but readily apprehended by the eye. The principal operations are bringing the open palms together, and then crossing the hands, which tells as far as a hundred.- Some of the tribes are said to be perplexed in their attempts to number beyond a hundred.- When the question turned upon any profit, that involved great numbers, we have generally heard them avail themselves of an English word, the first, we believe, and the most universally understood by savages-'heap!' Western Review.