He followed, and thereupon the driver started the bird, which set forth with long, rapid strides, at a pace fast as that of a trotting horse.
So astonished was I that for some time I did not notice anything else; but at length, when my first feeling had subsided, I began to regard other objects.

All the way the dense fern foliage arched overhead, throwing down deep shadows.

They grew on either side in dense rows, but between their stalks I could see the country beyond, which lay all bright in the sunlight.
Here were broad fields, all green with verdure; farther away arose clumps of tree-ferns; at every step of the way new vistas opened; amid the verdure and the foliage were the roofs of structures that looked like pavilions, and more massive edifices with pyramidal roofs.

Our road constantly ascended, and at length we came to a crossing.

This was a wide terrace at the slope of the mountain; on the lower side was a row of massive stone edifices with pyramidal roofs, while on the upper there were portals which seemed to open into excavated caverns.
Here, too, on either side arose the giant ferns, overarching and darkening the terrace with their deep shadow.