say “s” before “k” or hard “c.” In trying to pronounce “school” they say “cool.” There is no “r” in Huron, Mexican, Otomi, and some other languages, and several have no “i.” The Iroquois have no labials, and do not articulate with their lips. Cherokee has the same peculiarity, as it is an Iroquoian language. The Karankawa contains sounds rarely heard in European languages, while other sounds common to the latter are absent altogether from the Karankawa, so that in this language is found not only a complete difference from European tongues in grammatic structure and lexical elements, but a complete difference in phonetics as well, and in the last respect it differs also from other Amerind languages. Altogether the Karankawa shows many peculiarities, and it is unfortunate that the authentic material relating to it is so limited. In the Navajo there is a common combination of “tl” with a peculiar explosive click.[33] The tongue is placed with the tip against the roof of the mouth and pressure as for “t” made against it, the “l” sound immediately following by an explosion at the side. It is a peculiar sound, and the Navajo language is filled with it.[34] [Illustration: AMERIND LINGUISTIC MAP OF NORTH AMERICA, AFTER THE ONE PREPARED BY THE U. S. BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY] In recording these Amerind languages and their peculiar sounds, no definite system was employed till recently. Travellers wrote the Amerind words down with ordinary letters as they understood them, thus producing great diversity in method and results. Differences are due sometimes to a lack of perception on the part of the recorder, and also sometimes to a difference in pronunciation on the part of the Amerinds themselves, and again to differences of methods of recording. To catch the exact sounds of a new language requires a musical ear. I do not mean a knowledge of music, but an ear that follows a tune easily. Without such an ear a person is not fit to record language sounds that are novel no matter how good a linguist he may be. Investigators ought to have their ears tested for sound-perception as the eyes of locomotive engineers are tested for colour. [Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF A CHEROKEE MANUSCRIPT Written in Sequoyah’s Syllabary. See cut on page 52.] Recognising the importance of a system in the recording of the Amerind languages—the importance of systematising the orthography of these languages—the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology published an _Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages_, in which an alphabet was advocated that was adapted to recording harmoniously the Amerind languages. In this over sixty separate sounds are given by signs following as closely as possible our own alphabet. This is complicated and many investigators use their own systems and translate afterwards into the more general one. The great difference in the Amerind sounds necessitates many different characters and inverted letters standing for peculiar sounds.