ver; but the folding gates, which were composed of
blocks of stone curiously dovetailed together, and which revolved upon
hinges of the same material by a ball and socket contrivance above and
below, were not yet opened, and the party were detained on the bridge. A
small oval orifice only appeared, less than a human face, and an ear
was applied there to receive an expected word in a whisper. This
complied with, the ponderous gates unfolded, and a vista of solemn
magnificence was presented to the view. It was a vista at once of
colossal statues and trees, interminable in perspective and extending,
as it was found, the whole length of the city to its western gate.
Incredible as it may be, until we reflect upon the ancient statuary of
the eastern world, Velasquez reports each and all of these monuments as
being exactly of the height of the city wall, that is, sixty feet, and
all possessing the proportions of the human figure. He adds, what is
equally marvelous, that no two of them were precisely alike in
countenance, and very few in their sculptural costume. There was some
distinctive emblem upon each, and he was informed that they were statues
of the ancient kings of Assyria, from before the foundation of Babylon,
and of their descendants in the Aztec empires of this continent. They
stood sixty feet apart, with a smaller monument of some mythological
animal between each, and were said to number one hundred and fifteen, on
each side of the avenue they formed, which was one hundred and twenty
feet in width. A similar but shorter avenue, it appears, crossed the
city from north to south, having a proportional number of such monuments
through its entire extent; and these two grand avenues ran through wide
areas of green sward richly grouped with lofty trees. But the translator
finds himself trespassing upon forbidden ground and must forbear.

As the cavalcade advanced through this highway to the centre of the
city, they found it crowded on each side with the masses of the
population assembled to behold a spectacle so unprecedented and
mysterious; but the utmost order prevailed and even the silence was
profound. The news of the slaughter and dispersion of their military
guardians, by an army of strangers, wielding deadly weapons of fire and
smoke, had already run through every quarter of the city with increasing
exaggeration and terror; but the people wisely left its investigation to
their constituted authorities, and were rende