The country below us seemed teeming with people, spreading about in all directions; and dense bodies of what looked like troops, could be distinguished coming from the city in the direction of the place where the _Sirius_ had rested the previous night. Evidently these people had some very rapid means of communication, one with the other. The entire district appeared to be thoroughly aroused, and the commotion was evidently increasing each moment. That we were seen was manifest--thousands of upturned faces told us that the _Sirius_ was the centre of attraction, and every movement was keenly noted. We had now a much better view of the three glittering domes; they appeared to be the roof of some magnificent temple, whose walls seemed of white marble; but the dense growth of trees round the entire edifice, still concealed much of its rare beauty from our gaze. Just as we came over the outskirts of this wonderful town, the _Sirius_ received a terrible blow from some missile, which made her quiver from top to bottom, and we quite expected that we were about to fall to the ground. Had the projectile struck us fairly, nothing could have saved us; but by good fortune it glanced obliquely along the sides of the _Sirius_, and spent itself in space. "If I mistake not, that has been fired at us from the city below; but what the force was that hurled that bullet so high, and with such marvellously accurate aim is unknown to me, for no explosion accompanied it," said the Doctor, with rather a disconcerted air. "It is time we descended of our own free will, Doctor," answered Temple, "otherwise we shall be brought down as ignominiously as a winged hawk, and there will then be a speedy end to us and our projects." We were now directly over the city. And such a noble city, too! The buildings were all of colossal grandeur, the streets wide, and at right angles; no smaller houses mingled with the rest--all were uniformly grand, though the variety of the architecture prevented the slightest monotony. There were several magnificent buildings which we concluded were palaces or seats of government, on the larger of the two hills on which the city rested, and some of these were surrounded by gardens. The top of each hill had been levelled, and the bridge between them was a superb structure, quite half a mile in width, and perhaps three miles in length! What surprised us beyond everything was the total absence of conveyances, or of any kind of beasts of burthen whatever in the spacious thoroughfares, which were crowded with people alone. "What palaces! What domes! What halls and towers! What streets!" shouted Graham, carried away by his admiration for the architects and engineers who had planned and reared them.