It is interesting to note what has been said by Mr. Francis La Flesche[285] about water: “Water seems to hold an important place in the practice of this medicine society, even when roots are used for the healing of wounds. The songs say: ‘Water was sent into the wound,’ ‘Water will be sent into his wound,’ etc.” The mystic songs of the doctors of the order of buffalo shamans tell of the pool of water in a buffalo wallow where the wounded one shall be treated.
But we must note some apparent inconsistencies. While the Unkteḣi created the earth and the human race (§ 112), they are believed to feed on human spirits or ghosts; though ghosts are reckoned among the servants of the Unkteḣi! And while the powers of the Fire and Water are enemies, one is surprised to observe that in the war gens of the Omaha as well as in the two war gentes of the Kansa, there is the sacred clam shell as well as the war pipe! (See § 36 and Om. Soc., p. 226.)
THE FOUR QUARTERS.
§ 366. According to the tradition of the Iñke-sabĕ, an Omaha buffalo people, the ancestral buffaloes found the East and South winds bad ones; but the North and West winds were good. From this the author infers that the Omaha associated the East with the Fire powers or the sun, the South[286] with the Air powers, the North with the Earth powers, and the West with the Water powers.
On the other hand, an Iowa man told Mr. Hamilton that the South wind was a beneficent one, while the Northeast wind was maleficent (§ 74). This variation may have been caused by a difference in the habitats of the tribes referred to.
§ 367. Among the Kansa, Pahaⁿle-gaqli and Aliⁿkawahu, when they invoked the four winds, began at the left (as they were Yata people) with the East wind (Bazaⁿta, Toward the Pines), next they turned to the South wind (Ak’a, whence one of the names of the Kaⁿze gens), then to the West wind (Ak’a jiñga or Ak’uye), and lastly to the North wind (Hnita, Toward the Cold).[287] (See Fig. 195.)
FIG. 195.—Kansa order of invoking the winds, etc.
FIG. 196.—Tsiɔu (Osage) order of placing the four sticks, etc.