BUSHNELL] NATIVE VILLAGES AND VILLAGE SITES 53 
which they put their lomber, when they have eaten their homony, 
as they set in each apartment before the fire, they can put the bowl 
over head, having not above 5 foot to 
reach; they set on the floor sometimes at 
each end, but mostly at one: they have a 
shed to put their wood into in the winter, 
or in the summer to set to converse or 
play, that has a door to the south; all the 
side and roof of the cabin is made of bark, 
bound fast to poles set in the ground, and 
bent round on the top, or set aflatt, for the 
roof as we set our rafters; over each fire 
place they leave a hole to let out the 
smoak, which in rainy weather they cover 
_ with a piece of bark.” 
While the preceding was probably a 
typical long habitation of the Iroquois, 
and was accurately described, nevertheless 
it is quite evident other similar structures 
differed in certain details, and that all were 
not exactly alike in interior arrangement. 
Some appear to have had small closet-like 
compartments for storage purposes placed 
between the larger divisions which served 
for sleeping and living apartments. Such 
variations probably occurred at different 
times and among the several tribes. 
It is quite remarkable that a people pos- 
sessing such a complex form of government 
did not, until after the middle of the 
eighteenth century, erect astructure which 
was retained solely as a council house, or 
gathering place, as was the custom among 
the southern tribes. Before that time the 
house of the Fire Keeper of the nation was 
in reality the capitol, where tribal ques- 
tions were discussed and where ambassa- 
dors from other tribes were received. 
The people of the Five Nations had 
extensive fields and gardens, surround- 
ing or near their villages, and raised vast 
quantities of corn and vegetables. Much 
corn would be deposited in pits, excavated and lined with bark for 
the purpose, and these after being filled with grain would be covered 
with other sheets of bark with a mass of earth above. Such caches, 
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Fic. 3.—Plan of Onondaga long house, 
1743. (From Bartram.) 
