Page:Explorations of the upper Usumatsintla and adjacent region.djvu/100

58 On the following morning I made use of the cayuco to send two of my men to the hamlet of Yãxhá, 6 km. distant, commissioning them to inform the alcalde of my arrival, and to request him to send us a guide to the ruins on the island, and also to buy provisions.

The alcalde of Yãxhá, Ignacio Puc, appeared next day in person to show us the ruins of Tópoxté and to give us all the necessary information regarding existing conditions. We therefore embarked in two cayucos to row across to the island of ancient monuments, lying 1½ km. in a southerly direction, i. e., opposite the north shore. The alcalde informed us — and we were soon able to verify his assertion — that at the west end of the lake there were six little wooded islands and two islotes, or very small fragments of islands, all lying close together. Arriving at the northern shore of the island, we fastened our cayucos to trees standing up out of the water and went on shore.

The result of our exploration was as follows: We found that the principal buildings are all on a large terrace or foundation mound near the rocky west shore. Not counting smaller structures, it is possible to distinguish five principal buildings, three of which stand side by side in a line on the terrace, their façades turned toward the west. (See plan of the entire terrace, Fig. 10, which though hastily sketched is necessary to the comprehension of the whole.) On the left wing (i. e., on the observer's right) of these three stands the main temple with three little circular altars before the west stairway. In addition there are on the terrace (but to one side of the circular altars, on the observer's left) six small stelae, set up in two rows of three each. With these stelae there is only a single, small circular altar.

The middle structure and that on the right wing are of the same type. On the west side a few steps led up to the platform upon which the small oblong structure was erected, probably containing only a single chamber. In front of the middle structure, a little to the observer's right, stand three more little stelae, each having before it a small circular altar.