> To do this, I think I need to
> use a recursive template with a parameter.

not necessarily, it would be easier just to do 

select="(some/x/path)[position() <= $numberOfItemsToList]">

which will just select the first $numberOfItemsToList items.

If you do want a numeric parameter, don't do

	<xsl:param name="i">1</xsl:param>

which makes a result tree fragment, with a root node with a text node
child with string value the decimal representation of the number. If you
use this in a numeric context it has to be coerced back to a number.

	<xsl:param name="i" select="1"/>

which defines the parameter to be the number 1.

David