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The colour of the Atlanteans was very various, though the hair
was invariably of a fiery chestnut with bluish reflections. One
might see women whiter than Aphrodite, others tawny as Cleopatra,
others yellow as Tu-Chi, others of a strange, subtle blue like
the tattooed faces of Chin women, others again red as copper.
Green was however a prohibited hue for women, and red was not
liked in men. Violet was rare, but highly prized, and children
born of that colour were specially reared by the High
Priestesses.
However, in one part of the body all the women were perfectly
black with a blackness no negro can equal; from this circumstance
comes the name Atlas. It is absurdly attributed by some authors
to the deposit of excess of phosphorus in the Zro. I need only
point out that the mark existed long before the discovery of
black phosphorus. It is evidently a racial stigma. It was the
birth of a girl child without this mark which raised her mother
to the rank of goddess, and ended the terrestrial adventure of
the Atlanteans, as will presently appear.
Of the ethics of this people little need be said. Their word
for 'right' is 'phph' made by blowing with the jaw drawn sharply
across from left to right, thus meaning 'a spiral life contrary
to the course of the sun'. We may assume it as 'contrary'.
"Whatever is, is wrong" seems to have been their first principle.
Legs were 'wrong' because they only carry you five miles in the
hour: let us refuse to walk; let us ride horseback. So the horse
is 'wrong' compared to the train and the motor-car; and these are
'wrong' to the aeroplane. If speed had been the Atlantean's
object, he would have thought aeroplanes 'wrong' and all else
too, so long as the speed of light was not surpassed by him.
Curious survivals of these laws are found in the Jewish
transcript of the Egyptian code, which they, being a slave race,
interpreted in the reverse manner.
"Thou shalt not make any graven image." Every male child on
attaining manhood, had a graven image given him to worship, a
miracle-working image, whose principle exploits he would tattoo
upon it.
"Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy." The Atlantean
kept one day in seven for all purposes unconnected with his
principle task.
"Thou shalt not commit adultery." Though the Atlanteans
married, intercourse with the wife was the only act forbidden.
"Honour thy father and thy mother." On the contrary, they
worshipped their children, as if to say: "This is the God whom I
have made in my own likeness."
Similarly, there is one exception and one only to the rule of
silence. It is the utterance of the 'Name' which it is death to
pronounce. This word was constantly in their mouths; it is
'Zcrra', a sort of venomous throat-gargling. Hence, possibly the
Gaelic 'Scurr' 'speak', English 'Scaur' or 'Scar' in Yorkshire
and the Pennines. 'Zcrra' is also the name of the 'High House',
and of the graven image referred to above.
Others traces may be found in folklore; some mere
superstitions. Thus the correct number for a banquet was
thirteen, because if there were only one more sign in the Zodiac,
the year would be a month longer, and one would have more time
'for work'. This is probably a debased Egyptian notion.
Atlanteans knew better than anyone that the Zodiac is only an
arbitrary division. Still it may be laid down that the impossible
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