+------------------------------------------------------+ | Dakota god. | Element. | Quarter. | Color. | +--------------------+-------------+----------+--------+ |Tunkan | Earth | North | Blue | |Wakinyan | Fire | East | Red | |Takuśkanśkan | Wind-makers | South | Black | |Unkteḣi | Water | West | Yellow | +--------------------+-------------+----------+--------+ NOTE.--The names of the Dakota gods are given because we have more information about them, and the exact Omaha equivalent for Takuśkanśkan has not been obtained. § 379. Miss Fletcher gave, in 1884, a list of symbolic colors, which differs somewhat from that which the author has suggested in the preceding section. She said: White, blue, red, and yellow possess different meaning, yet are not very clearly determined by all tribes.[300] Among the Dakotas the following interpretation prevails: White is seldom used artificially; when it occurs in nature, as the white buffalo, deer, rabbit, etc., and on the plumage of birds, it indicates consecration. The sacred feathers and down are always white,[301] the former being taken from the underpart of the eagle’s wing and are soft and downy. This meaning of white holds good with the Omahas, Poncas, etc., and seems to have a wide application among the Indians. Blue represents the winds, the west, the moon, the water, the thunder, and sometimes the lightning. * * * Red indicates the sun, the stone, the forms of animal and vegetable life, the procreative force. Yellow represents sunlight as distinguished from the fructifying power of the sun.[302] The author has never observed this use of white as a symbolic color. In speaking of albino animals, we infer that to the Siouan mind they are consecrated because they are rare. In fact, Miss Fletcher says: The white buffalo is rare and generally remains near the center of the herd, which makes it difficult of approach. It is therefore considered as the chief or sacred one of the herd; and it is consequently greatly prized by the Indians.[303] While the author is convinced of the great value of Miss Fletcher’s investigations, he inquires concerning the veracity of her interpreters. He would like to see more detailed evidence before he accepts as the Dakota classification one which puts in the same category not only the winds and thunder, but also the water, the west, and the moon. He also asks why should the moon be separated from the sun (see § 138), and why should the west be the only quarter symbolized by a color? Besides, the Dakota shamans say that the Thunder-beings are of four colors, black, yellow, scarlet, and blue (see § 116).