CAUTIONS AND QUERIES.
§ 387. There are many gentes and subgentes which can not be assigned to any of the four categories of elemental powers for want of evidence. It is unsafe to argue that, because two buffalo gentes of the Omaha claim a subaquatic origin, all buffalo gentes should be regarded as Water people. Certain cautions should be kept in mind.
§ 388. The power of each of the four classes of elemental gods extends beyond its special element. For instance, the Unkteḣi, who rules in the water, has for his servants or allies, the black owl in the forest (Query: Has this any connection with the fire or thunder?), eagles in the air, and serpents in the earth. And the Thunder-beings have as their servants, the bear, whose abode is in the ground, the beaver, who is associated with the water, the butterfly, who lives in the air; and the deer.
§ 389. The servants of a class of elemental gods do not necessarily belong to that element which those gods regulate. Thus, the Black bear people of the Omaha, an earth people, assist the Elk people in the worship of the Thunder; and among the Kansa, the Buffalo people perform a similar service for the Lṵ or Thunder-being people (§§ 35, 36).
Those who belong to the same phratry, belong to the same social division; but while they “sing the mystery songs together,” they need not be assigned to the same elemental category.
§ 390. As the order of Thunder shamans is composed of those who have had dreams or visions of the sun, moon, stars, Thunder-beings, or some other superterrestial objects or phenomena, may not all superterrestial beings, including those of the “upper world,” be regarded as Thunder-beings by the Indians? (See § 45 and the Thunder-being names in § 393.)
That is to say, may not the eagles, and other birds of the “upper world” be Eagle Thunder-beings, Crow Thunder-beings, etc., though their special element is not the fire but the “wind-makers,” and the grizzly bears who reside under ground in that upper world, have given rise to the personal name, Grizzly-bear Thunder-being? If this be correct, then Bowlder Thunder-being may refer to a bowlder in the upper world, unless the supposition respecting composite names (in § 392) be true.
§ 391. The following appears at first sight to be the proper classification of the subgentes of a Bird gens in a few of the Siouan tribes: Thunder-bird, Eagle, Hawk, and Pigeon. But a study of personal names has led to a modification of this grouping: for we find such names as Eagle Thunder-being, Hawk Thunder-being, and Pigeon Thunder-being, as distinguished from ordinary eagles, hawks, and pigeons. Hence, we may find on further study that in some tribes there are eagle, hawk, and pigeon names for gentes and subgentes whose patron gods are Thunder-beings. For instance, the Lṵ gens of the Kansa tribe has two names for itself, Ledaⁿ nikaciⁿga, Gray hawk People, and Lṵ nikaciⁿga, Thunder-being People.