Akaza was always provided with a white umbrella.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A COVETED SPOT AND A PRICELESS TREASURE
The Hall of Ambassadors at Iaqua was still the scene of an animated discussion.
There were groups of scribes, runners and astrologers excitedly examining maps and charts, while knots of citizens gathered around the old men and heard from their lips the particulars. Some were priests, others were treasure keepers, judges and councilors; but one and all were disposed to stand by the records.
Patient, respectful tamanes glided noiselessly here and there, opening and placing some of the books on the tables ready for inspection, while they closed and carried others back to the vaulted recesses where they had been under lock and key since the foundation of Tlamco. Some of the manuscripts were on cotton cloth, others were of carefully prepared skins, tanned and dressed until soft as silk.
For ages the Indians have known how to prepare superior chamois. When they tan a skin it looks like soft, pliant yellow velvet and has an odor peculiar to itself. These qualities are imparted by smoking it thoroughly over a fire composed of certain herbs. Rain has no effect upon well-tanned Indian buckskin. This is why an Indian moccasin is always as yielding as cloth, while as thick and soft as felt.
A composition of gum and silk tissue made by a process known to-day by the Japanese and Chinese was invariably used by the Monbas for the transcription of public documents. Their books were bound with blocks of polished wood, and folded together, like a fan. These surfaces were inscribed on both sides so that the writing was continuous, ending where it began, but on the opposite side of the same square.
Around Ben Hu Barabe, the Civil Chief of the Monbas, were a number of Monbas warriors in full coats of mail and side arms. Setos mingled freely with them and appeared to espouse their side of the controversy, while Akaza conversed in subdued tones with Eko Tanga, the tall, fierce-looking, but well-mannered emissary from the Ians. Yermah had that freedom and grace of movement born in natural leaders, and there was an unconscious recognition of this quality wherever he went among the disputants.
A young Monbas warrior stood near him and leaned intently over the neatly inscribed parchment rolls bearing the official seal of Atlantis. The leaves of maguey and agave had been used in the fabrication of this beautiful paper.
“These measurements and observations were taken shortly after the shaping of Hotara (Lone Mountain), and before the surrounding tumuli had been finished,” said Yermah.