The foremost pillar in the image, with the sphere on top, is a very strong match for the layout of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, where a circle around the Sam Houston monument is at the north end of a long, rectangular reflecting pool.

  The Pioneer Memorial Obelisk at the southern end of the reflecting pool may have been the inspiration for the pillars in this painting.  The obelisk was slightly further north in 1981 and it was moved to its current position around 2002-2003.

  The shadow from the column on the left has the (very) unnatural form of a blue rectangle with a black outline.  It appears to be a pool of water enclosed by a wall or boundary.  On the water there is a hazy, semi-transparent red blob that appears to be a reflection of the ruby at the base of the pillar. 

  Taken together, all of those bits suggest that this is a representation of the reflection pool in Hermann Park.  The real pool is also a long rectangle and it also stretches away from a stone column (the Pioneer Memorial obelisk).

  The two exotic animals on the top of the pillars, a camel and a rhinoceros, appear to be a reference to the Houston Zoo, located south of the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park. 

  These animals may also represent map shapes in the area.  Some searchers have suggested that the camel matches the shape of McGovern Lake as it appeared in 1980.  (McGovern Lake has been reconfigured in recent years to be a very different shape.  To understand how that area has changed since 1981, visit our Hermann Park history page.)

click on photo to see enlargement

  Like the camel, the rhinoceros might be just a nod to the Houston Zoo or it might be a location hint showing us a shape of a nearby waterway.

  The outlined profile of the rhino's head matches a reflected representation of the major bays beside Houston, where large ships go in and out through the Houston Ship Channel to the Gulf of Mexico.  The snout of the rhino is Trinity Bay, with the horn being the estuary where the Trinity River meets the bay.  The sharp angle below the rhino's chin is Smith Point.  The ears are Clear Lake beside League City.  The rhino's neck and the top of the pillar form Galveston Bay.

  The shape of the largest dune resembles the shape of the amphitheater (hill) in Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park. Note the distinct shape of the crest of the dune.

  According to the Miller Outdoor Theatre's history page, "Miller's 'hill' was created with dirt from Fannin Street excavations" in 1948.  "The iconic hill was re-graded and raised" in 2009, so the hill and the sculpture at the top of it may be more visible now than they were in 1981.

  The sharp-pointed leaves on the trees could be a visual reference to the Atropos Key, a sculpture near the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park.  The sculpture was installed at the park in 1972.

  Here's another photo with some more information about the sculpture.

  The very prominent lobing on the leaves may also be a hint toward the line in Verse 1 that tells us to look for "four alike / Small, split, / Three winged and slight."  The four objects are thought to be trees and the "wings" in question would be the lobes on the leaves of three post oaks.

  The shape of the sand dune at J9 is almost certainly significant, but it can't be the "Moonscape Bench" near the train bridge, because that sculpture was only installed in 1999.

  One viewer has suggested that the dune could be a representation of the lion-shaped drinking fountains that were at the park.  The idea would tie in with the mention of a lion in Verse 1.

(Photo showing "one of the drinking fountains at the Houston Zoo" by Margaret H on Flickr.)

  The figure with the crossed arms may be a representation of the Spirit of the Confederacy statue which stood in Sam Houston Park until 2020.  Despite the two strong matches, it appears that the references to that park were likely only meant to be city-level clues.  There are enough specific references to Hermann Park to rule out other parks in the area.

  The way it is lined up with a fountain, like a jinn rising out of a whirlwind, suggests that we should be visually lining up two things.

The curved "stitching" at the bottom of the picture might represent the tracks of the miniature train.  But why the curve?  And why does it seem to point into the fountain?

The position of this stitching in the "blue portion" of the painting may represent the train crossing water.  The train bridge on the 1981 route (and the current route) is southwest of the Pioneer Memorial obelisk.

  If the sphere and pillar tell us that we are looking at a map view of Hermann Park, there are other shapes to the right of the pillar that would correspond to features east of the reflecting pool.

  One of the most distinctive things about this painting is that the jinn is lined up directly behind the whirlwind or fountain.  This might mean that we are supposed to line up the top of the Miller Theatre with the fountain in the lake, or it might just be a more general reference to lining things up.  A line through the theatre and the fountain would put us on the southwest corner of the lake, west of Engine 982.

The lower right corner of the painting is shaded blue, which might represent water. What was originally called Hermann Park Lake (now called McGovern Lake) is due south of the reflecting pool.  The position of the jewel might indicate that we should be on the northeast or northwest shore of the lake.

There's general agreement now that the pillar with the sphere represents the reflecting pool and the Sam Houston Memorial in Hermann Park.  There's also agreement that we were meant to start at Engine 982, near the entrance to the zoo, and go from there to a spot where some major landmarks line up.  The five candidates that have been identified for lining up are:

1. The top of the Miller Outdoor Theatre
2. The Atropos Key sculpture
3. The Pioneer Memorial obelisk*
4. The fountain in the western half of the lake*
5. Engine 982 on the shores of the lake*

* Important: Keep in mind that all interpretations must refer to where the objects were in 1981.  The obelisk, the fountain, and the train engine have all been relocated, and the Atropos Key and the top of the Miller Theatre may have been slightly repositioned as well.

The first three items on the list are possibilities because they project high into the air and can be seen from a long ways away.  The final two items are possibilities because they can be seen across the water of the lake without any trees or structures blocking the view.

A group of five points in a plane defines (at most) ten lines.  Here are the 10 lines at Hermann Park and an assessment of whether each one is likely to be part of the puzzle.

Here are the 5 most probable lines drawn on the 1981 map:

The line about "perspective" comes directly after the line about "small of scale, step across" in Verse 1.  Searchers are apparently expected to step inside the train loop and then keep two objects in visual alignment.  But, as the map above shows, most of the objects that could define a line of sight are on opposite sides of the 1981 train route.  It would not be possible to keep two objects in alignment if they were in opposite directions.  It would also not be possible to stand inside the train route and sight along the line connecting the Pioneer Obelisk and the Atropos Key, because that line would slant upwards from the Key to the top of the Obelisk, to pass over the trees in between.

So, by elimination, the most likely objects that searchers are expected to align are Engine 982 and the fountain.  And, by using the two ends of the engine to draw our lines, we can define a wedge of land for our search area at the northwest corner of the Hermann Park lake.

The elusive '29' is in the markings at the base of the column which was previously thought to be a mystery symbol. Rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise, the numbers are clear and there is possibly even an "S" with a degree circle on the right.  (Special thanks to user "howserboutdat" who cleared up a mystery that had puzzled many of us for months!)