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CHAPTER XVIL

THE CITY OF PEACE.

The main avenue, into which they had turned before reaching the gateway, was a broad, smooth lawn of the thickest and most carpet-like grass, studded with daisies and cowslips, and over-arched by wide-reaching branches, lined on either side by vast pillar-like trunks, a smooth stretch which filled the mind with refreshment. No ruts of carriage or chariot wheels broke into its evenness, and the feet must have been light and springy that passed over it.

The stream also at this portion of its course had been widened and deepened, and followed the line of the centre avenue, flowing evenly and smoothly towards the city, and through a delicately-sculptured viaduct in the walls, which here became a bridge, broad and spacious; the right hand range of many trunks lined the banks of that limpid river from which the grassy avenue spread.

"I see no signs of horses or carriage traffic here," remarked Philip.

"We do not require carriages nor horses; even when