This is perhaps shown most clearly in the matter of counting.

At Alice Springs they occasionally count, sometimes using their fingers in doing so, up to five, but frequently anything beyond four is indicated by the word _oknira_, meaning 'much' or 'great.' One is _nintha_, two _thrama_ or _thera_, three _mapitcha_, four _therankathera_, five _therankathera-nintha_." The form of these words is interesting, because it is clear that the word for four is two and two, or twice two, and the word for five is two and two and one.

These words indicate the prolonged and painful efforts which must have been necessary to count as far as five, and this though in other respects the Australian natives show substantial mental development, having a most complicated system of exogamy, and sometimes two personal names for each individual.

Again, the Andamanese islanders, despite the extraordinary complexity of their agglutinative language, have no names for the numerals beyond two.

[127] It is said that the Majhwar tribe can only count up to three, while among the Bhatras the qualification for being a village astrologer, who foretells the character of the rainfall and gives auspicious days for sowing and harvest, is the ability to count a certain number of posts.