BUSHNELL] NATIVE VILLAGES AND VILLAGE SITES 67 
maiz. Some of them are built of a sort of mud, which seemed toler- 
ably good, and is covered outside and inside with very thin mats. 
That of the great chief is rough cast very handsomely in the inside: 
it is likewise larger and higher than the rest, being placed in a more 
elevated situation, and has no cabbins adjoining to it. It fronts a 
large square, which is none of the most regular, and looks to the north. 
All the moveables I found in it were a bed of planks very narrow, and 
raised about two or three feet from the ground; probably when the 
chief lies down he spreads over it a matt, or the skin of some animal. 
. . . These cabbins have no vent for the smoke, notwithstanding those 
into which I entered were tolerably white. The temple stands at 
the side of the chief’s cabbin, facing the east, and at the extremity 
of the square. It is built of the same material, with the cabbins, 
but of a different shape, being an oblong square, forty feet in length, 
and twenty in breadth, with a very simple roof, in the same form as 
ours. At each extremity there is something like a weather-cock of 
wood, which has a very coarse resemblance of an eagle. The gate is 
in the middle of the length of the building, which has no other open- 
ing: on each side there are seats of stone. What is within is quite 
correspondent to this rustic outside. Three pieces of wood, joined 
at the extremity, and placed in a triangle, or rather at an equal 
distance from one another, take up almost the whole middle space 
of the temple, and burn slowly away. An Indian, whom they call 
keeper of the temple, is obliged to tend them, and to prevent their 
going out. If the weather is cold he may have a fire for himself, for 
he is not allowed to warm himself at this, which burns in honour of the 
sun . . . Ornaments I saw none, nor anything indeed which could 
inform me that this was a temple. I saw only three or four boxes 
lying in disorder, with a few dry bones in them, and some wooden 
heads on the ground, of somewhat better workmanship than the eagles 
on the roof. In short, if it had not been for the fire, I should have 
believed this temple had been deserted for some time, or that it had 
been lately plundered.” 
The structure designated the templewas themost important building 
inthe village. Asshould be expected, the various early descriptions of 
the Natchez village did not always agree in detail, but it is possible to 
form a rather clear conception of their appearance. According to 
Du Pratz, who gave a vivid account of the method of constructing the 
houses, all the cabins were perfectly square, none less than 15 feet each 
way, and some 30 or more feet on a side. Hickory saplings about 4 
inches in diameter were placed firmly in the ground at the four 
corners. Others, probably smaller, were arranged about 15 inches 
apart in lines between the corner posts, forming the walls of the struc- 
ture. Poles were then fastened on the inside of these in a horizontal 
position, bound and held by split canes. The four corner poles, which 
