ces. An immense
population thronged either side of the roadway. A review of the army
took place _en route_. The wayleals first rose into an enormous
flying column, which subsided into whirling domes and afterward broke
up into a dozen living globes, that appeared to roll one after another
on the ground. These were dissolved into a solid army marching on foot
for a time. Then as if by magic the entire mass of men rose into
spiral columns which dissolved into vast rings inextricably involved
with each other. It was a sight unique and bewildering.

Behind the wayleals, fifty thousand bockhockids kept up their steady
march. The people shouted with enthusiasm.

A mimic battle took place in the air above us. Ten thousand wayleals
fought on either side, brilliant in many-colored uniforms. Finally, a
rainbow arch of flying men spanned the entrance to the great square of
the Bormidophia, or pantheon. Amid the thunder of guns and music, the
entire company alighted at the doors of the pantheon, which consisted
of an immense circular pile of buildings over a mile in circumference.
The interior revealed a scene of surpassing magnificence. Endless
tiers of seats were arranged in terraces that, rising above each
other, traversed the wide sweep of the amphitheatre. The entire
pantheon with its adjacent palaces and colonnades was sculptured out
of a hill of green marble. The exterior walls, rising 200 feet, were
crowned with a lofty dome of enamelled glass, through which the light
of the sun streamed in myriad colors on the sea of worshippers
beneath. The walls of the pantheon, both exteriorly and interiorly,
were sculptured with immense reliefs, the trophies of invention and
art, as well as the magical symbols of spiritual forces.

The lowest circle of the amphitheatre reached down one hundred feet
below the level of the outer pavement, and the royal seat was on a
level with the ground and fifty feet below the top of the far-famed
golden throne of the gods, that stood in the centre of the immense
building.

Our entrance was the signal for welcoming music and a suppressed
murmur of excitement from the myriads of worshippers that sat both
above and below us. The amphitheatre contained not less than 50,000
people. The moment their majesties were seated, a roar of artillery
shook the earth. The forthcoming grand act of worship was evidently
instituted in our honor, for we were the observed of all eyes in that
vast concourse of people.