From the various quotations given on the preceding pages it is possible to form a good idea of the appearance of an ancient Arikara village. A large number of earth-covered lodges, of varying sizes, were placed without order but rather close together, often with a "medicine lodge" in the center of the group. All were surrounded by a palisade, often reared in connection with a ditch and embankment. The village at Fort Berthold was thus protected until the winter of 1865, at which time the stockade was cut down and used as fuel, and it was never replaced. As late as 1872 there were 43 earth-covered lodges standing at the Arikara village near Fort Berthold, together with 28 log cabins. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 54 [Illustration: _a._ Rake marked "Arickaree." Collected at Fort Berthold. Length 4 feet 10 inches. (U.S.N.M. 6353)] [Illustration: _b._ Agricultural implement formed of a scapula of a buffalo attached to a wooden handle. Marked "Ree Indians. Ft. Berthold, Dacotah Ter. Drs. Gray and Matthews." Length of scapula about 14 inches. (U.S.N.M. 6326)] [Illustration: _c._ Parfleche box. "Crows, Montana Ter. J. I. Allen." Length 28 inches, width 13-1/2 inches. (U.S.N.M. 130574)] BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 55 [Illustration: _a._ Grass-covered structures near Anadarko] [Illustration: _b._ Grass-covered lodge, about 1880 WICHITA HABITATIONS] In addition to the earth-covered lodges found in the permanent villages, they had skin tents which were occupied when away from their towns on war or hunting expeditions. Like the great majority of the native tribes, the Arikara would move about during certain seasons of the year. Hayden, writing about the year 1855, referred to this custom: "At the commencement of the winter the Arikaras leave their village in quest of buffalo, which seldom approach near enough to be killed in the vicinity of their cabins. They then encamp in skin tents, in various directions from the Missouri or along its banks, wherever the buffalo may chance to range. They pass the winter in hunting, and return to their permanent village early in the spring, bringing with them their skins in an unprepared state, with a great supply of meat." (Hayden, (1), p. 354.) Such were the hunting parties often met by the traders and explorers, as that mentioned by Sergeant Gass on October 15, 1804. That they were skilled agriculturists is attested by a note referring to the time they were still living in the old Mandan village below Fort Clark, October 11, 1853. In the journal of a party at that time descending the Missouri from Fort Benton to St. Louis appears this entry: