§ 363. Prior to writing this paper, the author had observed what Dr. Foster stated in his Indian Record and Historical Data respecting the division of the Winnebago tribe into four groups, named after the earth, air, fire, and water, respectively, i.e., Foster claimed that the Winnebago had people named after land animals, others after birds and the winds, others after the thunder-beings, and others after the Waktceqi or water monsters.[283] (See § 96.) During the year 1890 the author obtained from the three principal Ponka chiefs the classification of their gentes by phratries, and the character of the mystic songs peculiar to each phratry. On comparing this information with that which has been related about the Dakota gods, there seemed to be good reasons for inferring that not only the Dakota tribes, but also the Omaha, Ponka, Winne-bago, and others of the same stock, divided their gods into four classes, those of the earth, wind-makers, fire, and water. § 364. Among the Omaha, Iowa, and cognate tribes, we find that when a gens assembled as a whole, for council purposes, they sat around the fire in the order shown in the accompanying diagram, Fig. 193: _Legend._--1, Black Bear subgens; 2, Small Bird subgens; 3, Eagle subgens; 4, Turtle subgens; 5, fireplace; 6, entrance. [Illustration: FIG. 193.--The Ȼatada gentile circle.] Places in the circle were assigned according to kinship; thus, the Black Bear and Small Bird people are spoken of as “sitting on the same side of the fireplace,” as they are full kin, while they are only partially related to those who sit on the other side (Nos. 3 and 4). That the fireplace was sacred, there being traces of a hearth cult, has been shown in §§ 33 and 40. Furthermore, the Ȼatada circle is remarkable not only for its arrangement according to kinship, but for its symbolic character; because the Black Bear people are associated with the ground or earth, as is shown by their personal names; the Small Bird people are Thunder-beings or Fire people; the Eagle subgens consist of “Wind-maker” people; and the Turtle subgens is composed of Water people. [Illustration: FIG. 194.--The four elements, etc.] § 365. This suggests another diagram, Fig. 194, in which the author has put the names of four classes of Dakota gods, with what he suspects to be their appropriate colors, _R_ standing for red, _B_ for black, _Y_ for yellow, and _Bl_ for blue.