Ala Salem; #8 of 13

"On the altar rested a statue of gold--a jaguar with its tongue sticking out, looking down toward the front of the temple. Its eyes were made of enormous green gems, while smaller red stones lined its mouth. [Two women] bent before it, muttering and bumping their heads against the floor, as the men had done when giving reverence to Dumphee last night."

Back then, the jaguar served as a national symbol for the Mayans. Also, it was worshipped as a god. After all, the jaguar in the story was monolithic in size, kept in a temple, made out of gold and gems, and from what the last part of the quote states, the two women were most likely praying to the giant gold jaguar. Therefore, I've decided to use William Miller's photo of a jaguar.

Wolverton, D. A Very Strange Trip (Bridge Publications Inc. 1999) pg. 164

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.edu.pe.ca/southernkings/Pictures/jaguar.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.edu.pe.ca/southernkings/jaguar.htm&usg=__iiLhECXW83Ul_Jh7ZDHNl8qOzNk=&h=274&w=395&sz=89&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=WH3bxNNh8Auh0M:&tbnh=139&tbnw=200&ei=waaKTe3rBoe3twe5m8XjDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djaguars%2Banimals%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1260%26bih%3D625%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=132&vpy=349&dur=89&hovh=187&hovw=270&tx=141&ty=167&oei=waaKTe3rBoe3twe5m8XjDQ&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0