DOESEY.] THE FIRE POWERS. 535 



abodes. They are never seen by maukiud. The gray wolf was the 

 ancestor of all the wolves which are seen above ground. (See § 90.) 

 These four colors are evidently symbolic; but the author lias not yet 

 learned whether they have any reference to the four quarters. (See 

 §75.) 



THE FIRE POWERS. 



§ 384. Among these were the Thunder-beings and the Sur.. The 

 former were usully considered uialettceut powers, as distinguished from 

 the Sun, the beneficent Fire power; but occasionally the Thunder- 

 beings were addressed as "grandfathers," who could be induced to 

 gratify the wishes of the suppliants by granting them success in war 

 (§§ 35, 36). It was probably with reference to the Suii that the East 

 was considered the source of light and life, the West being associated 

 with the taking of life in the chase or on the war patli (see § 28). Ked 

 among the Omaha is the color symbol of the East, but red is also 

 symbolic of war. The "fire paint" among the Tsiou gentes of the 

 Osage tribe is red. It is applied when the fire prayers are said. Red 

 is a war color among the Dakota, Omaha, Kansa, and Osage. The 

 Tsiou crier received in his left hand a knife with the handle painted red. 

 The Haujja crier received in his right hand a hatchet with the handle 

 reddened. On the death of a comrade the surviving Osage removed the 

 bark from a post oak, say, about 5 feet from the ground, painted the 

 blazed tree red, broke four arrows and left them and some paint by the 

 tree.' Whenever the author saw Paha°le-gaqli, one of the war chiefs 

 of the Kansa, he noticed that the man's face was painted red all over. 

 In the middle of the war chart of Paha"le-gaqli was a fire symbol; but 

 the chief feared to represent it in the copy which he made for the 

 author. It probably consisted of the four fii-ebrauds placed at right 

 angles and meeting at a common center. The Omaha must have had 

 such a symbol at one time (see § 33). The Osage had it, according to 

 their tradition (see §§ 40, 365). The successful warriors among the 

 Omaha could redden their weapons when they joined in the dance.^ 



The Dakota give the following as the sentinels for the Wakinyan : 

 The deer at the north, the butterfly at the east, the beaver at the S(nith, 

 and the bear at the west (§ 116). If these were arranged to conform 

 to the order of Fig. 194 the bear would be at the iiorth, the beaver at 

 the west, the deer at the east, and the butterfly at the south. But there 

 may be a special order of grouping the servants of each class of pow- 

 ers differing from the order of the four powers themselves. The 

 Dakota wakan men say that the Wakinyan are of four colors, black, 

 yellow, scarlet, and blue (§ 116). The Thunder men of the Omaha 

 legend had hair of difterent colors, the first having white hair, the sec- 

 ond red, the third yellow, and the fourth green hair. ^ 



'Osage war customs, in Am. Natui-alist, Feb.. 1884, pp. 118, 126, 132, 

 »Oiu. Soc, in sa An. Kept. Bnr. Etbn., pp. 329. 330. 

 3 Contr. X. A. Etbn., Vol. VI, p. 187. 



