Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the MississippiBushnell, David I. (David Ives)
History
Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi
Bushnell, David I. (David Ives)
Algonquian Indians; Caddoan Indians; Indians of North America -- Dwellings; Siouan Indians
The expedition soon arrived at Pembina, near the international boundary,
where it would appear they found the two characteristic forms of native
habitations in use by the Indians. A drawing was at that time made by
Seymour and used as an illustration in the narrative, showing the "two
different kind of lodges used by the northwest Indians," the first being
the skin lodge of the prairie tribes, and "of this nature are all the
lodges used by the Dacotas;" the second were the bark-covered structures
of the Ojibway, "who for the most part live to the north-east of the
buffalo regions." To this latter class must have belonged the
habitations of the Siouan tribes before they were forced from their
early homes among the forests and lakes to the eastward.
When referring to the two characteristic forms of habitations it will be
of interest to quote from the writings of one who traversed the country
more than a century and a half ago, when all was in its primitive
condition, but, like many writers of that period, he failed to give
details which at the present time would prove of the greatest value. He
wrote: "The Indians, in general, pay a greater attention to their dress
and to the ornaments with which they decorate their persons, than to the
accommodation of their huts or tents. They construct the latter in the
following simple and expeditious manner.
"Being provided with poles of a proper length, they fasten two of them
across, near their ends, with bands made of bark. Having done this, they
raise them up, and extend the bottom of each as wide as they purpose to
make the area of the tent: they then erect others of an equal height,
and fix them so as to support the two principal ones. On the whole they
lay skins of the elk or deer, sewed together, in quantity sufficient to
cover the poles, and by lapping over to form the door. A great number of
skins are sometimes required for this purpose, as some of their tents
are very capacious. That of the chief warrior of the Naudowessies was at
least forty feet in circumference, and very commodious.
"They observe no regularity in fixing their tents when they encamp, but
place them just as it suits their conveniency.
"The huts also, which those who use no tents erect when they travel,
for very few tribes have fixed abodes or regular towns or villages, are
equally simple, and almost as soon constructed.
"They fix small pliable poles in the ground, by bending them till they
meet at the top and form a semi-circle, then lash them together. These
they cover with mats made of rushes platted, or with birch bark, which
they carry with them in their canoes for this purpose.
"These cabins have neither chimnies nor windows; there is only a small
aperture left in the middle of the roofs through which the smoke is
discharged, but as this is obliged to be stopped up when it rains or
snows violently, the smoke then proves exceedingly troublesome.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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