k visible part in the government of the race, Adept or Divine
rulers were, when the times required it, still provided for the infant
community. As students of Theosophy know, our humanity had not then
reached the stage of development necessary to produce fully initiated
Adepts. The rulers above referred to, including the Manu himself, were
therefore necessarily the product of evolution on other systems of
worlds.

The Tlavatli people showed some signs of advance in the art of
government. Their various tribes or nations were ruled by chiefs or
kings who generally received their authority by acclamation of the
people. Naturally the most powerful individuals and greatest warriors
were so chosen. A considerable empire was eventually established among
them, in which one king became the nominal head, but his suzerainty
consisted rather in titular honour than in actual authority.

It was the Toltec race who developed the highest civilization and
organized the most powerful empire of any of the Atlantean peoples,
and it was then that the principle of hereditary succession was for
the first time established. The race was at first divided into a
number of petty independent kingdoms, constantly at war with each
other, and all at war with the Lemurio-Rmoahals of the south. These
were gradually conquered and made subject peoples--many of their
tribes being reduced to slavery. About one million years ago, however,
these separate kingdoms united in a great federation with a recognized
emperor at its head. This was of course inaugurated by great wars, but
the outcome was peace and prosperity for the race.

It must be remembered that humanity was still for the most part
possessed of psychic attributes, and by this time the most advanced
had undergone the necessary training in the occult schools, and had
attained various stages of initiation--some even reaching to
Adeptship. Now the second of these emperors was an Adept, and for
thousands of years the Divine dynasty ruled not only all the kingdoms
into which Atlantis was divided but the islands on the west and the
southern portion of the adjacent land lying to the east. When
necessary, this dynasty was recruited from the Lodge of Initiates, but
as a rule the power was handed down from father to son, all being more
or less qualified, and the son in some cases receiving a further
degree at the hands of his father. During all this period these
Initiate rulers retained connection with the