A few minutes brought them to the outskirts of the city.

It had no walls and exhibited no signs of any devices for defence.

Its streets were broad and well-paved, and the houses, built of great blocks of grey stone joined together with white cement, looked as fresh and unworn as though they had only been built a few months, whereas they had probably stood for hundreds of thousands of years.

They were flat-roofed, all of one storey and practically of one type.
There were very few public buildings, and absolutely no attempt at ornamentation was visible.

Round some of the houses were spaces which might once have been gardens.