Punta del Sapote forms a broad, rounded peninsula, the greatest length
of which is in N.E. and S.W. Its middle part is a large plateau,
about 150 m. high, sloping rapidly both towards the lake and the neck
of the peninsula, and thus forming an isolated height of somewhat
more than one kilometer in length by scarcely one kilometer in
breadth. The central portion of this plateau is perfectly level and,
judging by the numerous statues met with here, and the regular form
of the stone-mounds, round which they were placed, appears to have
been a sacred place during the Niquiran period. On the very isthmus
between the peninsula and the island of _Zapatera_ rose a conical
stone-structure, 30-40 m. high; it consisted of enormous, unhewn
blocks, placed upon one another in pretty regular layers. Its diameter
at the base might be estimated at about 40 m. The top of the cone was
truncated, and appeared to form a plane of 6-8 m. in diameter. The
steep sides were so densely covered by spinous bushes and lians, that
I was soon obliged to desist from my attempts to mount the summit.
The whole structure resembled a kind of beacon, and has possibly been
a place of sacrifice, although its dimensions were so large, that it
cannot well be regarded as such a «sacrificial pillar» as is mentioned
by PETER MARTYR under the name of «_Tezarit_». Maybe a little «casita»
has stood on the platform above. Something of the same kind is known
from _Uxmal_.
Due north of this cone, on the top of the above mentioned plateau, were
six stone-mounds of oval form, but of very different size. The largest
(Pl. 41: 1) measured about fifty m. in length by thirty m. in breadth,
the smallest (Pl. 41: 6) about fifteen m. in length by somewhat less
than half in breadth. The greatest diameter of each mound was in N. and
S. The stones of these mounds varied of course in size, but for the
most part they were large, more or less cubical, from half a meter to
one meter long and about half a meter broad. Their often regular shape
and pretty plane sides, particularly in the mound 1, might lead one to
infer that some of them have been hewn, and have formed the foundations
and possibly also the walls of buildings, the ground plans of which are
indicated by the form of the mounds and the situation of the statues,
of which we are soon going to speak.