The pronouns are a rich field for general Altaic comparisons; and the relationship of the Old Japanese pronouns to those of the other Altaic languages helps to clarify some of the inner relationships among these languages at the same time that it irrefutably establishes the relationship of Japanese to this language family. But the numerals present another and strikingly different kind of problem. In most general terms, the Altaic numerals are not a particularly rewarding area for the activities of the comparative linguist; and in fact, when surveying the evidence he is tempted more than once to conclude that they were especially devised to try both his patience and his ingenuity.