eet; and
their dull, black walls, and the dull black of the stones with which the
streets were paved, gave a dark and melancholy air to the city that
oppressed us even more heavily when thus seen closely than it had when
we beheld it from afar off. Yet the interior court-yards, so far as we
could tell from the glimpses that we had of them through open door-ways,
were bright with sunshine and gay with flowers; thus showing that the
gloom of these dwellings did not extend beyond their outer walls. I
observed with much interest that the provision for closing the entrances
from the street was not swinging doors of wood, but either metal bars,
such as we had seen in Tizoc's house, or else a metal grating, that was
arranged like a portcullis to slide up and down in a groove; and I
attributed the absence of wooden doors less to a desire for stronger
barriers than to the comparative recentness of the acquisition of the
knowledge of wood-working tools. Here, I thought, was a curious instance
of development along the lines of greatest resistance; for in itself the
invention and the making of a swinging door of wood was a much easier
matter than was the invention and the making of these finely wrought
sliding doors of hardened gold.

As for Young, the sight of all this gold-work quite took his breath
away. "It regularly jolts me, Professor," he said, "t' see th' genuine
stuff, that's good t' make gold dollars out of, slung around this way. A
front door of solid gold is a huckleberry above Jay Gould's biggest
persimmon; an' as t' Solomon, these fellows just lay Solomon out
cold--regularly down th' old man an' sit on him. Why, for just that one
front door of th' big house ahead of us I'd sell out all my shares in
this treasure-hunt, an' be glad t' do it. But I guess I'd have to hire
Samson--who was in that line of business--t' carry it off for me. It
must weigh a solid ton!"

By this time we had mounted all of the terraces, and the house towards
which Young pointed as he spoke was built directly beneath the crowning
plateau on which the great temple stood. It was the largest and by far
the most elegant house that we yet had seen, and the sliding grating of
gold that closed the entrance was unusually heavy, and very beautifully
wrought. Sentinels were stationed here, wearing the same uniform as that
of the soldiers who formed our guard; and this further indication of the
importance of the building gave us the impression that it was