The Australian Aboriginal counting system was used together with message sticks sent to neighbouring clans to alert them of, or invite them to, corroborees, set-fights, and ball games.
However, Alfred Howitt, who studied the peoples of southeastern Australia, disproved this in the late nineteenth century,[citation needed] although the myth continues in circulation today.
Howitt wrote that it was common among nearly all peoples he encountered in the southeast: "Its occurrence in these tribes suggests that it must have been general over a considerable part of Victoria".
As can be seen in the following tables, names for numbers were based on body parts, which were counted starting from the little finger.
In his manuscripts, Howitt suggests counting commenced on the left hand.