HURON DWELLINGS. XXVli 



construction ; and here were stowed casks of bark, filled 

 with smoked fish, Indian corn, and other stores not liable 

 to injury from frost. Within, on both sides, were wide 

 scaffolds, four feet from the floor, and extending the 

 entire length of the house, like the seats of a colossal 

 omnibus. 1 These were formed of thick sheets of bark, 

 supported by posts and transverse poles, and covered 

 with mats and skins. Here, in summer, was the sleep- 

 ing'place of the inmates, and the space beneath served 

 for storage of their firewood. The fires were on the 

 ground, in a line down the middle of the house. Each 

 sufficed for two families, who, in winter, slept closely 

 packed around them. Above, just under the vaulted 

 roof, were a great number of poles, like the perches of a 

 hen-roost, and here were suspended weapons, clothing, 

 skins, and ornaments. Here, too, in harvest time, the 

 squaws hung the ears of unshelled corn, till the rude 

 abode, through all its length, seemed decked with a 

 golden tapestry. In general, however, its only lining 

 was a thick coating of soot from the smoke of fires with 

 neither draught, chimney, nor window. So pungent was 

 the smoke, that it produced inflammation of the eyes, 

 attended in old age with frequent blindness. Another 

 annoyance was the fleas ; and a third, the unbridled and 

 unruly children. Privacy there was none. The house 

 was one chamber, sometimes lodging more than twenty 

 families. 2 



1 Often, especially among the Iroquois, the internal arrangement was 

 different. The scaffolds or platforms were raised only a foot from the 

 earthen floor, and were only twelve or thirteen feet long, with interven- 

 ing spaces, where the occupants stored their family provisions and other 

 articles. Five or six feet above was another platform, often occupied by 

 children. One pair of platforms sufficed for a family, and here during 

 summer they slept pellmell, in the clothes they wore by day, and without 

 pillows. 



^ One of the best descriptions of the Huron and Iroquois houses is 



