d part of the great Lemurian
continent; and indeed, so many accretions of territory had it by this
time received that it might more appropriately be called a continent
than an island. It was the great mountainous region of Atlantis at its
prime, when Atlantis embraced great tracts of land which have now
become North and South America. It remained the mountainous region of
Atlantis in its decadence, and of Ruta in the Ruta and Daitya epoch,
and it practically constituted the island of Poseidonis--the last
remnant of the continent of Atlantis--the final submergence of which
took place in the year 9564 B.C.

A comparison of the two maps here given, along with the four maps of
Atlantis, will also show that Australia and New Zealand, Madagascar,
parts of Somaliland, the south of Africa, and the extreme southern
portion of Patagonia are lands which have _probably_ existed through
all the intervening catastrophes since the early days of the Lemurian
period. The same may be said of the southern parts of India and
Ceylon, with the exception in the case of Ceylon, of a temporary
submergence in the Ruta and Daitya epoch.

It is true there are also remains still existing of the even earlier
Hyperborean continent, and they of course are the oldest known lands
on the face of the earth. These are Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen,
the most northerly parts of Norway and Sweden, and the extreme north
cape of Siberia.

Japan is shown by the maps to have been above water, whether as an
island, or as part of a continent, since the date of the second
Lemurian map. Spain, too, has doubtless existed since that time. Spain
is, therefore, with the exception of the most northerly parts of
Norway and Sweden, _probably_ the oldest land in Europe.

The indeterminate character of the statements just made is rendered
necessary by our knowledge that there _did_ occur subsidences and
upheavals of different portions of the earth's surface during the ages
which lay between the periods represented by the maps.

For example, soon after the date of the second Lemurian map we are
informed that the whole Malay Peninsula was submerged and remained so
for a long time, but a subsequent upheaval of that region must have
taken place before the date of the first Atlantean map, for, what is
now the Malay Peninsula is there exhibited as part of a great
continent. Similarly there have been repeated minor subsidences and
upheavals nearer home in more recent times,