mbers of the councils, and
occasionally even were chosen by the Adept emperor to represent him in
the various provinces as the local sovereigns.

The writing material of the Atlanteans consisted of thin sheets of
metal, on the white porcelain-like surface of which the words were
written. They also had the means of reproducing the written text by
placing on the inscribed sheet another thin metal plate which had
previously been dipped in some liquid. The text thus graven on the
second plate could be reproduced at will on other sheets, a great
number of which fastened together constituted a book.

A custom which differs considerably from our own must be instanced
next, in their choice of food. It is an unpleasant subject, but can
scarcely be passed over. The flesh of the animals they usually
discarded, while the parts which among us are avoided as food, were by
them devoured. The blood also they drank--often hot from the
animal--and various cooked dishes were also made of it.

It must not, however, be thought that they were without the lighter,
and to us, more palatable, kinds of food. The seas and rivers provided
them with fish, the flesh of which they ate, though often in such an
advanced stage of decomposition as would be to us revolting. The
different grains were largely cultivated, of which were made bread and
cakes. They also had milk, fruit and vegetables.

A small minority of the inhabitants, it is true, never adopted the
revolting customs above referred to. This was the case with the Adept
kings and emperors and the initiated priesthood throughout the whole
empire. They were entirely vegetarian in their habits, but though many
of the emperor's counsellors and the officials about the court
affected to prefer the purer diet, they often indulged in secret their
grosser tastes.

Nor were strong drinks unknown in those days. Fermented liquor of a
very potent sort was at one time much in vogue. But it was so apt to
make these who drank it dangerously excited that a law was passed
absolutely forbidding its consumption.

The weapons of warfare and the chase differed considerably at
different epochs. Swords and spears, bows and arrows sufficed as a
rule for the Rmoahals and the Tlavatli. The beasts which they hunted
at that very early period were mammoths with long woolly hair,
elephants and hippopotami. Marsupials also abounded as well as
survivals of intermediate types--some being half reptile and half
mammal, ot