Shinep ikashima wanbe, eleven things.
Tup ikashima wanbe, twelve things.
Hot nep, twenty things.
Wanbe e tu hot nep, twenty-one things.
Shinep ikashima wanbe e tu hot nep, thirty-one things.
Ashikne hot nep, one hundred things.
[N.B.—Note carefully the repetition of the noun after each numeral.]
With the numbers two and three, quadrupeds and sometimes even inanimate objects are counted with the word pish, e.g.
Seta shinep, one dog.
Seta tup pish, two dogs.
Seta rep pish, three dogs.
Seta inep, four dogs.
Niu, pe, and pish may be considered to correspond in some degree to the so-called “classifiers” or “auxiliary numerals” of Chinese, Japanese, and many other Eastern languages; but no further trace of such “classifiers” exists.
The radical form can never be used in answer to a question. In such a case one of the substantive forms must be employed.
Some nouns are excluded by their nature from both the above categories. The following are a few such words. Kamui “god or gods”; To, “a day;” Tokap “day;” Kunne “night,” “black.”
Kamui is counted as follows:—
Shine kamui, one god.
Tu kamui, two gods.
Re kamui, three gods.
Ine kamui, four gods.
Ashikne kamui, five gods.
Iwan kamui, six gods.
Arawan kamui, seven gods.
Tupe-san kamui, eight gods.
Shinepe-san kamui, nine gods.
Wan kamui, ten gods.
Shine kamui ikashima wan kamui, eleven gods.
Tu kamui ikashima wan kamui, twelve gods.
Hot ne kamui, twenty gods.
And so on.
To is counted as follows:—
Shine to, one day.
Tut ko, two days.
Rere ko, three days.
Ine rere ko, four days.
