f land and left them desolate swamps.
Whole provinces were rendered barren, and remained for generations in
an uncultivated and desert condition.

The remaining population too had received a terrible warning. It was
taken to heart, and sorcery was for a time less prevalent among them.
A long period elapsed before any new powerful rule was established. We
shall eventually find a Semite dynasty of sorcerers enthroned in the
"City of the Golden Gates," but no Toltec power rose to eminence
during the second map period. There were considerable Toltec
populations still, but little of the pure blood remained on the mother
continent.

On the island of Ruta however, in the third map period, a Toltec
dynasty again rose to power and ruled through its tributary kings a
large portion of the island. This dynasty was addicted to the black
craft, which it must be understood became more and more prevalent
during all the four periods, until it culminated in the inevitable
catastrophe, which to a great extent purified the earth of the
monstrous evil. It must also be borne in mind that down to the very
end when Poseidonis disappeared, an Intitiate emperor or king--or at
least one acknowledging the "good law"--held sway in some part of the
island continent, acting under the guidance of the Occult Hierarchy in
controlling where possible the evil sorcerers, and in guiding and
instructing the small minority who were still willing to lead pure and
wholesome lives. In later days this "white" king was as a rule elected
by the priests--the handful, that is, who still followed the "good
law."

Little more remains to be said about the Toltecs. In Poseidonis the
population of the whole island was more or less mixed. Two kingdoms
and one small republic in the west divided the island between them.
The northern portion was ruled by an Initiate king. In the south too
the hereditary principle had given way to election by the people.
Exclusive race-dynasties were at an end, but kings of Toltec blood
occasionally rose to power both in the north and south, the northern
kingdom being constantly encroached upon by its southern rival, and
more and more of its territory annexed.

Having dealt at some length with the state of things under the
Toltecs, the leading political characteristics of the four following
sub-races need not long detain us, for none of them reached the
heights of civilization that the Toltecs did--in fact the degeneration
of the race ha