26 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY ; [BULL, 69 
‘‘seated on each Side of the Fires, from End to End of the Wigwam, 
except a space at one end of the Wigwam, for the Priests, or Paw- 
waws.”’ The latter was probably in the present village of Great 
Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It was undoubtedly 
a council house, where the tribal affairs were discussed and arranged, 
and in some respects this suggests the structures of the Iroquois. 
Although the works just quoted do not mention the existence of 
palisades among the Mahican, it is evident their villages in earlier 
times were so protected. The custom had probably been abandoned 
before the middle of the eighteenth century, by which time the tribes 
had become reduced in numbers and scattered; no longer maintain- 
ing compact settlements, but living apart in smaller groups. For- 
tunately there is preserved a picture of an ancient Mahican village, 
made before it had lost its primitive aspect. It appears on the very 
rare map of Novi Belgii, which was evidently engraved between the 
years 1651 and 1656 and bears a view of New Amsterdam, considered 
to be the second one made of the future city of New York. Above 
the picture of the village is the legend: Modus muniendi apud Mahi- 
kanenses, together with the Dutch translation. This is reproduced 
as plate 4, a. The wigwams are undoubtedly shown in too regular 
order, but in other respects the drawing is probably quite true and is 
suggestive of a statement made by Lahontan a few years later. 
When writing of the northern tribes in general he said: 
‘“‘Their Villages are Fortified with double Palissadoes of very hard ~ 
Wood, which are as thick as one’s Thigh, and fifteen Foot high, with 
little Squares about the middle of the Courtines. Commonly their 
Huts or Cottages are Kighty Foot long, Twenty five or Thirty Foot 
deep, and Twenty Foot high. They are cover’d with the Bark of 
young Elms.’’ (Lahontan, (1), II, p. 6.) 
Describing the interior of the houses he referred to a raised plat- 
form extending along either wall which served as places for beds. 
Fires were kindled on the ground between platforms and there were 
‘‘vents made in the Roof for the Smoke.” This undoubtedly was a 
description of some Iroquoian settlement, but the reference to ‘‘little 
' Squares about the middle of the Courtines” would certainly apply to 
the drawing of the Mahican village. However, there was probably a 
great similarity between the villages of the western Algonquian tribes 
of New England and those of the Iroquoian tribes beyond the Hudson. 
Here, as elsewhere in the country east of the Mississippi, it is evident — 
that when two tribes or groups of tribes whose towns possess dis- 
tinctive characteristics are near to one another their border settle- 
ments will show the peculiar features of both. The sketch of the 
Mahican village and the preceding note from Lahontan are likewise 
suggestive of a rectangular inclosure, an ancient Seneca site, near 
Geneva, Ontario County, New York. A plan of the latter is given in 
