Editing René Lesson (section)

==Lesson and the idea that counting in New Zealand proceeded by elevens==

On his return from his voyage on the ''Coquille'' in 1825, Lesson published a French translation of "Du Grand Océan, de ses îles et de ses côtes" written by the German botanist [[Adelbert von Chamisso]].<ref name="AVC1825">{{cite book |last=Von Chamisso |first=Adelbert |editor-last=Bajot |editor-first=Louis-Marie |title=Annales maritimes et coloniales, année 1825 — II.e partie — Tome 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=780OAAAAYAAJ |location=Paris |publisher=L'imprimerie Royale |date=1825 |pages=1–41 |chapter=Du Grand Océan, de ses îles et de ses côtes: par A. de Chamisso, Docteur en philosophie, &c. &c.; traduit sur l'édition anglaise par R. P. Lesson, Médecin de la corvette ''la Coquille'', Pharmacien de la marine, Membre de plusieurs sociétés savantes, &c.}}</ref><ref name="JPS2020">{{cite journal |last= Overmann |first= Karenleigh A |date=2020 |title= The curious idea that Māori once counted by elevens, and the insights it still holds for cross-cultural numerical research |url=https://osf.io/9ynsa/download |journal=Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume=129 |issue=1 |pages=59–84 |doi=10.15286/jps.129.1.59-84 |access-date=24 July 2020|doi-access=free }}</ref> In the article, von Chamisso had claimed that the number system of New Zealand was based on twenty: "…de l'E. de la mer du Sud … c'est là qu'on trouve premierement le système arithmétique fondé sur un échelle de vingt, comme dans la Nouvelle-Zélande (2)..." […east of the South Sea … is where we first find the arithmetic system based on a scale of twenty, as in New Zealand (2)...].<ref name="AVC1825"/>{{rp|27}} Lesson inserted the footnote (2) to mark this claim as an error: "(2) Erreur. Le système arithmétique des Zélandais est undécimal, et les Anglais sont les premiers qui ont propagé cette fausse idée. (L.)" [(2) Error. The Zealander arithmetic system is undecimal, and the English are the first to propagate this misconception. (L).]"<ref name="AVC1825"/>{{rp|27}} The term "undécimal" was possibly a printer's error that conjoined the phrase "un decimal," which would have correctly identified the New Zealand number system as decimal.<ref name="JPS2020" /> [[Undecimal]] was interpreted to mean "counting by elevens," as a parallel construction to the term "duodecimal" for twelve-based counting. The mention of "the English" likely referred to [[Samuel Lee (linguist)|Samuel Lee]] and [[Thomas Kendall]], as their 1820 grammar of the New Zealand language had been von Chamisso's source.<ref name="JPS2020" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Von Chamisso |first=Adelbert |editor-last= Von Kotzebue |editor-first=Otto |title=A voyage of discovery, into the South Sea and Beering's Straits, for the purpose of exploring a north-east passage, undertaken in the years 1815–1818, at the expense of his highness the Chancellor of the Empire, Count Romanzoff, in the ship Rurick: Vol. III |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=00YbAAAAYAAJ |location=London |publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown |date=1821 |pages=439–442|chapter=Corrections and remarks }}</ref>

Regardless of whether his 1825 use of "undécimal" originated as a printer's error or not, over the next several years, Lesson and his friend and shipmate [[Jules de Blosseville]] would deliberately embellish and attempt to establish as fact the idea that New Zealand had a [[base 11 number system]].<ref name="JPS2020" /> The idea was published in 1826 by the Italian geographer [[Adriano Balbi]] as the contents of a letter he received from Lesson, a missive that added an elevens-based numerical vocabulary (including terms meaning eleven squared and cubed) and details of its purported collection from New Zealand informants.<ref>{{cite book |last=Balbi |first= Adriano |title=Atlas ethnographique du globe, ou classification des peuples anciens et modernes d'aprés leur langue. Vol. 1, Discours préliminaire et introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oV38C96IOBgC |location=Paris |publisher=Paul Renouard |date=1826 |pages=230–278 |chapter=Observations sur la classification des langues Océaniennes}}</ref> It was again mentioned in 1826 by the Hungarian astronomer [[Franz Xaver von Zach]], who reported it thirdhand as a letter written by Blosseville: "M. Nell de Bréanté écrit que, d'après les communications qu'il a reçues de M. de Blosseville, ... [en Nouvelle-Zélande], on a trouvé en usage un système de numération ''undécimal''" [Mr. Nell de Bréauté writes that, according to the communications he has received from M. de Blosseville, ... [in New Zealand], a system of ''undecimal'' numbering was found in use].<ref>{{cite book |last=Von Zach |first=Franz Xaver |editor-last=Saigey |editor-first=Emilé |title=Bulletin des sciences mathématiques, astronomiques, physiques et chimiques, 1ère section, tome V |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2FU7AQAAIAAJ |location=Paris |publisher=Bureau du Bulletin |date=1826 |pages=120–123 |chapter=Correspondance astronomique, géographique, hydrographique et statistique}}</ref>{{rp|121}} Lesson was also likely to have authored an undated, anonymous essay found among and published with the papers of the Prussian linguist [[Wilhelm von Humboldt]] in 1839.<ref>{{cite book |last=Von Humboldt |first=Wilhelm |date=1839 |title=Über die Kawi-Sprache aus der Insel Java, nebst einer Einleitung über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einsluss aus die geistige Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechts. Band III. Südsee-Sprachen, als östlicher Zweig des Malayischen |location=Berlin |publisher=F. Dümmler |pages=437–438, 763 |oclc=889950161}}</ref> The essay contains the most extensive detail of the known sources, mentioning [[Thomas Kendall]] by name and listing several [[North Island]] locations where the alleged informants were supposedly from, matters that would have been known to Lesson from his work and 1824 visit to that island.<ref name="JPS2020" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Duperrey |first=Louis Isidore |title=Voyage autour du monde, exécuté par ordre du Roi, sur la Corvette de Sa Majesté, la Coquille, pendant les années 1822, 1823, 1824 et 1825. Hydrographie et physique |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pWK39IqIYKwC |location=Paris |publisher=Arthus Bertrand |date=1829 |pages=84–87 |chapter=Tabléaux des routes parcourues par la Corvette de Sa Majesté, la Coquille, et des observations météorologiques faites a bord du batiment, pendant les années 1822, 1823, 1824 et 1825 |oclc=257721098}}</ref>