Lives of Alcyone

Life XXXVI
Our story now carries us back again to the great Atlantic
island of Poseidonis, for this time Alcyone took a male birth in the
white race which inhabited its northern mountains. He was born in
the year 9672 B.C., only a little before the final catastrophe which
sank the land. The general condition of the country was one of great
corruption, and the majority of the population, the dominant races
which inhabited the plains, lived dissolute and selfish lives, which
involved the practice of a large amount of black magic. In these
northern mountains, however, patriarchal conditions existed, and life
in general was of a much healthier type than that in the plains below.
The people had much less of the arts and refinements of
civilisation,, but were certainly purer and nobler than those of the
cities.
Some of the tribes inhabiting the various valleys of the great
mountain range owed a nominal allegiance to the Toltec king below;
others had independent rulers of their own. But in either case the
owner of the valley was usually practically also its undisputed lord;
for his allegiance was merely nominal, whether it was given to some
monarch of his own fifth sub-race or to the Toltec sovereign.
Quarrels between the Toltec government and the mountaineers as
to the payment of the amount of tribute were more or less constant.
Owing to the extreme difficulty of manoeuvring an army in such
rugged country it was rarely worth while for the Toltec sovereign to
try to enforce his claims; but now and then an army was sent out,