soul as the dawn
breaks in upon the darkness of night. It is a glorious piece
of statuary, and none but a genius could have conceived it.
Between each of the black marble columns is some such group of
figures, some allegorical, and some representing the persons
and wives of deceased monarchs or great men; but none of them,
in our opinion, comes up the one I have described, although several
are from the hand of the sculptor and engineer, King Rademas.

In the exact centre of the hall was a solid mass of black marble
about the size of a baby's arm-chair, which it rather resembled
in appearance. This, as we afterwards learnt, was the sacred
stone of this remarkable people, and on it their monarchs laid
their hand after the ceremony of coronation, and swore by the
sun to safeguard the interests of the empire, and to maintain
its customs, traditions, and laws. This stone was evidently
exceedingly ancient (as indeed all stones are), and was scored
down its sides with long marks or lines, which Sir Henry said
proved it to have been a fragment that at some remote period
in its history had been ground in the iron jaws of glaciers.
There was a curious prophecy about this block of marble, which
was reported among the people to have fallen from the sun, to
the effect that when it was shattered into fragments a king of
alien race should rule over the land. As the stone, however,
looked remarkably solid, the native princes seemed to have a
fair chance of keeping their own for many a long year.

At the end of the hall is a dais spread with rich carpets, on
which two thrones are set side by side. These thrones are shaped
like great chairs, and made of solid gold. The seats are richly
cushioned, but the backs are left bare, and on each is carved
the emblem of the sun, shooting out his fiery rays in all directions.
The footstools are golden lions couchant, with yellow topazes
set in them for eyes. There are no other gems about them.

The place is lighted by numerous but narrow windows, placed high
up, cut on the principle of the loopholes to be seen in ancient
castles, but innocent of glass, which was evidently unknown here.

Such is a brief description of this splendid hall in which we
now found ourselves, compiled of course from our subsequent knowledge
of it. On this occasion we had but little time for observation,
for when we entered we perceived that a large number of men were
gathered together in front of the two thro