The principal object that attracted my notice on arriving at the seat of government, was the Auditory, which towered above all surrounding objects, and struck me with awe and admiration. I could not conceive how so stupendous an edifice could have been reared by such a people. I had indeed observed, that notwithstanding their inferiority in size, they were much stronger, and more active than the Externals. The tallest men were about five feet high, but they leaped twenty or thirty feet at a bound without much apparent exertion, and easily lifted burthens which three of our men would find it difficult to move; still the vast fabric before me appeared out of all proportion to the ability even of mortals as highly gifted as these. It was a single dome of one arch, supported by a peristyle of huge columns, and covering at least eight acres of ground. The extreme elevation of the centre was seven hundred and fifty feet. The whole was formed of stone, in massy blocks, cemented with a paste of the same material, so as to appear to be all of one solid piece. Surui said that when the people determined to erect a temple, in which they might assemble for devotional exercises and expressions of gratitude to the Divine Being, they regarded the object as one towards which the whole nation ought to be allowed to contribute. They determined to construct a building in which the greatest multitude ever collected in that district might worship God; and which would also serve for the deliberations of the Grand Council, that they might always be considered to be in the presence of the Supreme Ruler, and discharge their high trust with a due sense of their responsibility to Him who seeth the heart. They had therefore built this Auditory by the surplus labour of the nation: each man having devoted so much of his time to the work as his private affairs would permit, and for no other reward than that of his own feelings and the good opinion of his fellow men. The dome, which appeared so immense and so impracticable, was formed on a high conical hill, by which the site was originally occupied. In the sides of this hill shafts were sunk to the intended level of the foundation, in which the columns were reared. The top of the hill was then shaped for the reception of the stone of the arch, which was thus easily constructed upon the solid earth. When the whole was completed, the earth both within and without the structure was removed, leaving the edifice as it now appeared upon the plain. Within the columns, the earth was formed into a concavity, with graduated steps to the centre, so that an individual in any part of the immense area could see every person within the circumference of the dome.