THE EARTH POWERS.
§ 383. The Tunkan or bowlder, the Dakota name for the Earth powers, is also called the Lingam by Riggs ( § 132), as if connected with a phallic cult (§§ 164, etc.). The Earth powers (Tunkan) and the Wind-makers (Takuśkanśkan) are said by the Dakota to have a common symbol; but is not the symbol of the Takuśkanśkan a pebble (§ 376)? In the Kansa war chart (see § 127) does the large (red) rock refer to the Earth powers? And does the small rock refer to the Wind-makers? The Earth powers and the Wind-makers seem to be associated in some degree: (a) In the use of the rock symbol (if the Takuśkanśkan symbol be a true rock), and (b) in the use, among the Omaha, of eagle birth names in the social divisions called “Keepers of the pipes.” This latter rests upon the assumption that the Iñke-sabĕ is a buffalo gens which should be regarded as having some connection with the Earth cult. When the Omaha chiefs assembled in council the two sacred pipes were filled by the Ictasanda keeper (a member of a Fire and Water gens); but they were carried around the council lodge by the Iñke-sabĕ and ┴e-[p]a-it‘ajĭ keepers. The Iñke-sabĕ keeper started around the lodge with one of the pipes; when he had gone halfway (i.e., as far as the entrance) the ┴e-[p]a-it‘ajĭ keeper started from the back of the lodge with the other pipe, taking care to keep behind the Iñke-sabĕ keeper just half the circumference of the circle.[307] The ┴e-[p]a-it‘ajĭ man belonged to the Eagle or Wind-makers subgens and the Iñke-sabĕ man to one that we term provisionally an Earth gens. (See Fig. 194.) The Iñke-sabĕ, it is true, have a tradition that they came originally from the water; but the buffalo is specially associated with the earth. Among the Dakota the buffalo and the earth are regarded as one. (§ 239.)