the preparation of their food, and whether it was the flesh of animals
they slew or the pounded grains of wheat, their modes of cooking were
closely analogous to those we hear of as existing to-day among savage
communities. With reference to the gift of wheat so marvellously
brought from Venus, the divine rulers doubtless realised the
advisability of at once procuring such food for the people, for they
must have known that it would take many generations before the
cultivation of the wild seeds could provide an adequate supply.
Rude and barbarous as were the people during the period of the fifth
and sixth sub-races, such of them as had the privilege of coming in
contact with their divine teachers were naturally inspired with such
feelings of reverence and worship as helped to lift them out of their
savage condition. The constant influx, too, of more intelligent beings
from the first group of the Lunar Pitris, who were then beginning to
return to incarnation, helped the attainment of a more civilised
state.
[Sidenote: Great Cities and Statues.]
During the later part of the sixth, and the seventh sub-race they
learnt to build great cities. These appear to have been of cyclopean
architecture, corresponding with the gigantic bodies of the race. The
first cities were built on that extended mountainous region of the
continent which included, as will be seen in the first map, the
present Island of Madagascar. Another great city is described in the
"Secret Doctrine"[22] as having been entirely built of blocks of lava.
It lay some 30 miles west of the present Easter Island, and it was
subsequently destroyed by a series of volcanic eruptions. The gigantic
statues of Easter Island--measuring as most of them do about 27 feet
in height by 8 feet across the shoulders--were probably intended to be
representative not only of the features, but of the height of those
who carved them, or it may be of their ancestors, for it was probably
in the later ages of the Lemuro-Atlanteans that the statues were
erected. It will be observed that by the second map period, the
continent of which Easter Island formed a part had been broken up and
Easter Island itself had become a comparatively small island, though
of considerably greater dimensions than it retains to-day.
Civilisations of comparative importance arose on different parts of
the continent and the great islands where the inhabitants built cities
and dwelt in settled communities, but large tribes who were also
partially civilised continued to lead a nomadic and patriarchial life;
while other parts of the land--in many cases the least accessible, as
in our own times--were peopled by tribes of extremely low type.
[Sidenote: Religion.]
With so primitive a race of men, at the best, there was but little in
the shape of religion that they could be taught. Simple rules of
conduct and the most elementary precepts of morality were all that
they were fitted to understand or to practise. During the evolution of
the seventh sub-race, it is true that their divine instructors taught
them some primitive form of worship and imparted the knowledge of a
Supreme Being whose symbol was represented as the Sun.
[Sidenote: Destruction of the Continent.]
Unlike the subsequent fate of Atlantis, which was submerged by great
tidal waves, the continent of Lemuria perished by volcanic action. It
was raked by the burning ashes and the red-hot dust from numberless
volcanoes. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, it is true, heralded
each of the great catastrophes which overtook Atlantis, but when the
land had been shaken and rent, the sea rushed in and completed the
work, and most of the inhabitants perished by drowning. The Lemurians,
on the other hand, met their doom chiefly by fire or suffocation.
Another marked contrast between the fate of Lemuria and Atlantis was
that while four great catastrophes completed the destruction of the
latter, the former was slowly eaten away by internal fires, for, from
the time when the disintegrating process began towards the end of the
first map period, there was no cessation from the fiery activity, and
whether in one part of the continent or another, the volcanic action
was incessant, while the invariable sequence was the subsidence and
total disappearance of the land, just as in the case of Krakatoa in
1883.
So closely analogous was the eruption of Mount Pelée, which caused the
destruction of St. Pièrre, the capital of Martinique, about two years
ago, to the whole series of volcanic catastrophes on the continent of
Lemuria, that the description of the former given by some of the
survivors may be of interest. "An immense black cloud had suddenly
burst forth from the crater of Mont Pelée and rushed with terrific
velocity upon the city, destroying everything--inhabitants, houses and
vegetation alike--that it found in its path. In two or three minutes
it passed over, and the city was a blazing pyre of ruins. In both
islands [Martinique and St. Vincent] the eruptions were characterised
by the sudden discharge of immense quantities of red-hot dust, mixed
with steam, which flowed down the steep hillsides with an
ever-increasing velocity. In St. Vincent this had filled many valleys
to a depth of between 100 feet and 200 feet, and months after the
eruptions was still very hot, and the heavy rains which then fell
thereon caused enormous explosions, producing clouds of steam and dust
that shot upwards to a height of from 1500 feet to 2000 feet, and
filled the rivers with black boiling mud." Captain Freeman, of the
"Roddam," then described "a thrilling experience which he and his
party had at Martinique. One night, when they were lying at anchor in
a little sloop about a mile from St. Pièrre, the mountain exploded in
a way that was apparently an exact repetition of the original
eruption. It was not entirely without warning; hence they were enabled
to sail at once a mile or two further away, and thus probably saved
their lives. In the darkness they saw the summit glow with a bright
red light; then soon, with loud detonations, great red-hot stones were
projected into the air and rolled down the slopes. A few minutes later
a prolonged rumbling noise was heard, and in an instant was followed
by a red-hot avalanche of dust, which rushed out of the crater and
rolled down the side with a terrific speed, which they estimated at
about 100 miles an hour, with a temperature of 1000° centigrade. As to
the probable explanation of these phenomena, no lava, he said, had
been seen to flow from either of the volcanoes, but only steam and
fine hot dust. The volcanoes were, therefore, of the explosive type;
and from all his observations he had concluded that the absence of
lava-flows was due to the material within the crater being partly
solid, or at least highly viscous, so that it could not flow like an
ordinary lava-stream. Since his return this theory had received
striking confirmation, for it was now known that within the crater of
Mont Pelée there was no lake of molten lava, but that a solid pillar
of red-hot rock was slowly rising upwards in a great conical,
sharp-pointed hill, until it might finally overtop the old summit of
the mountain. It was nearly 1000 feet high, and slowly grew as it was
forced upwards by pressure from beneath, while every now and then
explosions of steam took place, dislodging large pieces from its
summit or its sides. Steam was set free within this mass as it cooled,
and the rock then passed into a dangerous and highly explosive
condition, such that an explosion must sooner or later take place,
which shivered a great part of the mass into fine red-hot dust."[23]
A reference to the first Lemurian map will show that in the lake lying
to the south-east of the extensive mountainous region there was an
island which consisted of little more than one great mountain. This
mountain was a very active volcano. The four mountains which lay to
the south-west of the lake were also active volcanoes, and in this
region it was that the disruption of the continent began. The seismic
cataclysms which followed the volcanic eruptions caused such
wide-spread damage that by the second map period a large portion of
the southern part of the continent had been submerged.
A marked characteristic of the land surface in early Lemurian times
was the great number of lakes and marshes, as well as the innumerable
volcanoes. Of course, all these are not shown on the map. Only some of
the great mountains which were volcanoes, and only some of the largest
lakes are there indicated.
Another volcano on the north-east coast of the continent began its
destructive work at an early date. Earthquakes completed the
disruption, and it seems probable that the sea shown in the second map
as dotted with small islands to the south-east of the present Japan,
indicates the area of seismic disturbance.
In the first map it will be seen that there were lakes in the centre
of what is now the island-continent of Australia--lakes where the land
is at present exceedingly dry and parched. By the second map period
those lakes had disappeared, and it seems natural to conjecture that
the districts where those lakes lay, must, during the eruptions of the
great volcanoes which lay to the south-east (between the present
Australia and New Zealand), have been so raked with red-hot volcanic
dust that the very water-springs were dried up.
[Sidenote: Founding of the Atlantean Race.]
In concluding this sketch, a reference to the process by which the
Fourth Root Race was brought into existence, will appropriately bring
to an end what we know of the story of Lemuria and link it on to that
of Atlantis.
It may be remembered from previous writings on the subject that it was
from the _fifth_ or Semitic sub-race of the Fourth Root Race that was
chosen the nucleus destined to become our great Fifth or Aryan Root
Race. It was not, however, until the time of the _seventh_ sub-race on
Lemuria that humanity was sufficiently developed physiologically to
warrant the choice of individuals fit to become the parents of a new
Root Race. So it was from the seventh sub-race that the segregation
was effected. The colony was first settled on land which occupied the
site of the present Ashantee and Western Nigeria. A reference to the
second map will show this as a promontory lying to the north-west of
the island-continent which embraced the Cape of Good Hope and parts of
western Africa. Having been guarded for generations from any admixture
with a lower type, the colony gradually increased in numbers, and the
time came when it was ready to receive and to hand on the new impulse
to physical heredity which the Manu was destined to impart.
Students of Theosophy are aware that, up to the present day, no one
belonging to our humanity has been in a position to undertake the
exalted office of Manu, though it is stated that the founding of the
coming Sixth Root Race will be entrusted to the guidance of one of our
Masters of Wisdom--one who, while belonging to our humanity, has
nevertheless reached a most exalted level in the Divine Hierarchy.
In the case we are considering--the founding of the Fourth Root
Race--it was one of the Adepts from Venus who undertook the duties of
the Manu. Naturally he belonged to a very high order, for it must be
understood that the Beings who came from the Venus system as rulers
and teachers of our infant humanity did _not_ all stand at the same
level. It is this circumstance which furnishes a reason for the
remarkable fact that may, in conclusion, be stated--namely, that there
existed in Lemuria a Lodge of Initiation.
[Sidenote: A Lodge of Initiation.]
Naturally it was not for the benefit of the Lemurian race that the
Lodge was founded. Such of them as were sufficiently advanced were, it
is true, taught by the Adept Gurus, but the instruction they required
was limited to the explanation of a few physical phenomena, such as
the fact that the earth moves round the sun, or to the explanation of
the different appearance which physical objects assumed for them when
subjected alternately to their physical sight and their astral vision.
It was, of course, for the sake of those who, while endowed with the
stupendous powers of transferring their consciousness from the planet
Venus to this our earth, and of providing for their use and their work
while here appropriate vehicles in which to function, were yet
pursuing the course of their own evolution.[24] For their sake it
was--for the sake of those who, having entered the Path, had only
reached the lower grades, that this Lodge of Initiation was founded.
Though, as we know, the goal of normal evolution is greater and more
glorious than can, from our present standpoint, be well imagined, it
is by no means synonymous with that expansion of consciousness which,
combined with and alone made possible by, the purification and
ennoblement of character, constitute the heights to which the Pathway
of Initiation leads.
The investigation into what constitutes this purification and
ennoblement of character, and the endeavour to realise what that
expansion of consciousness really means are subjects which have been
written of elsewhere.
Suffice it now to point out that the founding of a Lodge of Initiation
for the sake of Beings who came from another scheme of evolution is an
indication of the unity of object and of aim in the government and the
guidance of _all_ the schemes of evolution brought into existence by
our Solar Logos. Apart from the normal course in our own scheme, there
is, we know, a Path by which He may be directly reached, which every
son of man in his progress through the ages is privileged to hear of,
and to tread, if he so chooses. We find that this was so in the Venus
scheme also, and we may presume it is or will be so in all the schemes
which form part of our Solar system. This Path is the Path of
Initiation, and the end to which leads is the same for all, and that
end is Union with God.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 2: Haeckel is correct enough in his surmise that Lemuria was
the cradle of the human race as it now exists, but it was not out of
Anthropoid apes that mankind developed. A reference will be made later
on to the position in nature which the Anthropoid apes really occupy.]
[Footnote 3: Ernst Haeckel's "Hist. of Creation," 2nd ed., 1876, Vol.
1., pp. 360-62.]
[Footnote 4: Alfred Russell Wallace's "The Geographical Distribution
of Animals--with a study of the relations of living and extinct Faunas
as elucidating the past changes of the Earth's Surface." London:
Macmillan & Co., 1876. Vol. 1., pp. 76-7.]
[Footnote 5: Ceylon and South India, it is true, have been bounded on
the north by a considerable extent of sea, but that was at a much
earlier date than the Tertiary period.]
[Footnote 6: Wallace's "Geographical Distribution, etc." Vol. 1., pp.
328-9.]
[Footnote 7: Wallace's "Geographical Distribution, etc.," Vol. ii., p.
155.]
[Footnote 8: H. F. Blandford "On the age and correlations of the
Plant-bearing series of India and the former existence of an
Indo-Oceanic Continent," see Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society, Vol. xxxi., 1875, pp. 534-540.]
[Footnote 9: A reference to the maps will show that Mr. Blandford's
estimate of date is the more correct of the two.]
[Footnote 10: Parts of the continent of course endured, but the
dismemberment of Lemuria is said to have taken place before the
beginning of the Eocene Age.]
[Footnote 11: Vol ii., pp. 325-6.]
[Footnote 12: Dr. G. Hartlaub "On the Avifauna of Madagascar and the
Mascarene Islands," see "The Ibis," a Quarterly Journal of
Ornithology. Fourth Series, Vol. i., 1877, p. 334.]
[Footnote 13: Ernst Haeckel's "History of Creation," Vol. ii., pp.
22-56.]
[Footnote 14: Ernst Haeckel's "History of Creation," Vol. ii., pp.
226-7.]
[Footnote 15: For a further account of the permanent atoms on all the
planes, and the potentialities contained in them with reference to the
processes of death and re-birth, see "Man's Place in Universe." pp.
76-80.]
[Footnote 16: The "Standard," 8th Jan., 1904.]
[Footnote 17: Ernst Haeckel's "The History of Creation," 2nd ed., Vol.
i., pp. 193-8.]
[Footnote 18: "The Secret Doctrine," Vol. ii., p. 197.]
[Footnote 19: Vol. ii., pp. 683 and 689.]
[Footnote 20: It must, however, be noted that the Chinese _people_ are
mainly descended from the fourth or Turanian sub-race of the Fourth
Root Race.]
[Footnote 21: "Secret Doctrine," Vol. ii., p. 198.]
[Footnote 22: Vol. ii., p. 317.]
[Footnote 23: The "Times," 14th Sept., 1903.]
[Footnote 24: The heights reached by them will find their parallel
when our humanity will, countless aeons hence, have reached the Sixth
Round of our chain of worlds, and the same transcendent powers will be
the possession of ordinary mankind in those far-off ages.]
MAPS
[Illustration: NO. 1 THE WORLD ABOUT 1,000,000 YEARS AGO, DURING MANY
PREVIOUS AGES, AND UP TO THE CATASTROPHE OF ABOUT 800, 000 YEARS AGO.
ATLANTIS AT ITS PRIME]
[Illustration: NO 2 THE WORLD AFTER THE CATASTROPHE OF 800,000 YEARS AGO
AND UP TO THE CATASTROPHE OF ABOUT 200,000 YEARS AGO.
ATLANTIS IN ITS DECADENCE]
[Illustration: NO 3 THE WORLD AFTER THE CATASTROPHE OF 200,000 YEARS AGO
AND UP TO THE CATASTROPHE OF ABOUT 80,000 YEARS AGO.
RUTA & DAITYA]
[Illustration: NO 4 THE WORLD AFTER THE CATASTROPHE OF 80000 YEARS AGO
AND UP TO THE FINAL SUBMERGENCE OF POSEIDONIS IN 9,564 B.C.
POSEIDONIS]
[Illustration: No.1 LEMURIA at its greatest extent.]
[Illustration: No.2 LEMURIA at a later period.]