CITY OF NAUVOO.
A writer in the Springfield Republican says that the ground plot has no rival for beauty and eligibility for the site of a city, in any other town on the Mississippi river, and no spot resembles it near as much as the ground on which the city of Washing-ton is built. The river at the northern end takes a sweep, and by the time it gets to the lower part of the city it describes an ellipsis. The front on the flat alluvial part embraces perhaps one-third of the city, contains the principal part of the stores and the most of the public houses. This embraces Main street, which is a broad avenue 1 1/2 miles long, and several parallel streets, and others crossing them at right angles. The city then rises an easy grade to the level of the prairies, say 150 feet above the river. On this elevation the Temple is situated, and shows to the very best advantage; back of this the city still extends at least a mile, and the whole comprises an area of perhaps four square miles. You will not suppose that all this ground is compactly built upon, yet at the rate the city of Navoo has progressed for five years past, it will very soon go ahead of its " illustrious predecessor" in the number and compactness of its population. The buildings are in general well built, a good portion of brick or stone, some of them are capacious and costly.
The temple is situated relatively much as the City Hall is in Washington, and is a magnificient structure, so far as it is ad-vanced, It is 128 feet long, 88 feet wide, and the walls 57 feet high. The materials are white lime stone, which are quarried on ground within a convenient distance. There are 30 pilasters projecting about 15 inches from the walls, the base of which are wrought to represent the rising moon in its first quarter, and the capitals which measure 5 feet high and 6 feet wide at the top, repre-sent the meridian sun, the whole executed in a most elaborate style.
There are to be circular windows between each pilaster and midway between the up-per and lower story windows, so finished as to represent stars. The whole is to be sur-mounted by a splendid dome. In the base-ment is the baptismal font, 18 feet long by 10 feet wide, standing on the backs of 12 oxen—4 looking south, 4 north, 2 east and 2 west. These are very handsomely carved out of wood. Some lawless rascals have defaced them by breaking off parts of the horns, &c. Two of the walls are now up for the roof, and the work is going on with great vigor. There are on the temple and at the quarry, 140 men employed, besides numerous teams.
Mr. William Weeks, a native of Mar-tha's Vineyard, is the Architect. Navoo contains 10,000 inhabitants.
