es 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