177 () - ROUND THE WORLD. 45 



thing among them, being scarcely equal, except in 

 size, to an English dog-kennel : they are seldom 

 more than eighteen or twenty feet long, eight or ten 

 broad, and five or six high, from the pole that runs 

 from one end to the other, and forms the ridge, to the 

 ground. The framing is of wood, generally slender 

 sticks, and both walls and roof consist of dry grass 

 and hay, which, it must be confessed, is very tightly 

 put together ; and some are also lined with the bark 

 of trees, so that in cold weather they must afford a 

 very comfortable retreat. The roof is sloping, like 

 those of our barns, and the door is at one end, just 

 high enough to admit a man, creeping upon his 

 hands and knees : near the door is a square hole, 

 which serves the double office of window and chim- 

 ney, for the fire-place is at that end, nearly in the 

 middle between the two sides. In some conspicuous 

 part, and generally near the door, a plank is fixed, 

 covered with carving after their manner : this they 

 value as we do a picture, and in their estimation it is 

 not an inferior ornament. The side-walls and roof 

 project about two feet beyond the walls at each end, so 

 as to form a kind of porch, in which there are benches 

 for the accommodation of the family. That part 

 of the floor which is allotted for the fire-place is en- 

 closed in a hollow square, by partitions either of wood 

 or stone, and in the middle of it the fire is kindled. 

 The floor, along the inside of the walls, is thickly 

 covered with straw, and upon this the family sleep. 



Their furniture and implements consist of but few 

 articles, and one chest commonly contains them all, 

 except their provision-baskets, the gourds that hold 

 their fresh water, and the hammers that are used to 

 beat their fern-root, which generally stand without 

 the door : some rude tools, their clothes, arms, and a 

 few feathers to stick in their hair, make the rest of 

 their treasure. 



Some of the better sort, whose families are large, 

 have three or four houses enclosed within a court- 



