"It was a strange bewilderment of marvels, and from it all, as if it
were its interior motive and cause, sprang light. It was electric in
origin, conveyed in some peculiar manner from a great source of power,
in the high falls of Zenapa, near the City. But this I learned later.
"I divined that we were approaching the center of the city. Soon,
indeed, I saw before me the sparkling walls of the amphitheatre I had
descried from the hill of Observation at the locks. Here it is, that the
great plays, the gigantic concerts, the operas, and services of the
Pan-Tan are held. It was a seraphic, astounding picture. It rose in the
midst of a great square of many acres in extent, where the light,
purposely subdued, allowed its dazzling beauty subdued isolation. How
wonderful! I stopped. For one instant, before hurrying on, I gazed upon
a miracle of constructive and decorative art. One hundred columns of red
glass rose upward, and between them was a wall, in tiers of green glass
arches, and on the keystone of each a pink globe of fire. From the
pillars sprang, in an inverted terrace formation, metallic brackets,
carrying gorgeous chandeliers of a red bronze; the largest chandeliers
were at the very upper edge of the building, and the cascade of light
thus shed upon the splendid fabric was indescribably magnificent.
"But there was small time for wonder or examination. We swept on through
the shadowy gardens about it, and my guide quickly brought me to the
Hall of the Council, a low, inconspicuous building of yellow brick, one
of the few discordant architectural notes in the whole city.
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