The Maya alphabet contains no sign for the letter s; there is, however, a symbol called ca immediately above the letter k; it is probable that the sign ca stands for the soft sound of c, as, in our words citron, circle, civil, circus, etc. As it is written in the Maya alphabet ca, and not k, it evidently represents a different sound. The sign ca is this, ### . A somewhat similar sign is found in the body of the symbol for k, thus, ### , this would appear to be a simplification of ca, but turned downward. If now we turn to the Egyptian letters we find the sign k represented by this figure ### , simplified again into ### ; while the sign for k in the Phoenician inscription on the stone of Moab is ### . If now we turn to the s sound, indicated by the Maya sign ca, ### , we find the resemblance still more striking to kindred European letters. The Phoenician s is ### ; in the Greek this becomes ### ### ; the Hebrew is ### ### ; the Samaritan, ### . The Egyptian hieroglyph for s is ### ; the Egyptian letter s is ### ; the Ethiopic, ### ; the Chaldaic, ### ; and the Illyrian s c is ### . We have thus traced back the forms of eighteen of the ancient letters to the Maya alphabet. In some cases the pedigree, is so plain as to be indisputable. For instance, take the h: Maya, ### ; old Greek, ### ; old Hebrew, ### ; Phoenician, ### . Or take the letter o: Maya, ### ; old Greek, ### ; old Hebrew, ### ; Phoenician, ### . Or take the letter t: Maya, ### ; old Greek, ### ; old Phoenician, ### and ### . Or take the letter q: Maya, ### ; old Phoenician, ### and ### ; Greek, ### . Or take the letter k: Maya, ### ; Egyptian, ### ; Ethiopian, ### ; Phoenician, ### . Or take the letter n: Maya, ### ; Egyptian, ### ; Pelasgian ### , Arcadian, ### ; Phoenician, ### . Surely all this cannot be accident! But we find another singular proof of the truth of this theory: It will be seen that the Maya alphabet lacks the letter d and the letter r. The Mexican alphabet possessed a d. The sounds d and t were probably indicated in the Maya tongue by the same sign, called t in the Landa alphabet. The Finns and Lapps do not distinguish between these two sounds. In the oldest known form of the Phoenician alphabet, that found on the Moab stone, we find in the same way but one sign to express the d and t. D does not occur on the Etruscan monuments, t being used in its place. It would, therefore, appear that after the Maya alphabet passed to the Phoenicians they added two new signs for the letters d and r; and it is a singular fact that their poverty of invention seems to have been such that they used to express both d and r, the same sign, with very little modification, which they had already obtained from the Maya alphabet as the symbol for b. To illustrate this we place the signs side by side: ###