BUSHNELL] NATIVE VILLAGES AND VILLAGE SITES 81 
Described as it was at that time it was said that it ‘““contains about 
thirty habitations, each of which consists of two houses nearly the 
same size, about thirty feet in length, twelve feet wide, and about 
the same in height. The door is placed midway on one side or in the 
front. This house is divided equally, across, into two apartments, 
one of which is the cook room and common hall, and the: other the 
lodging room. The other house is nearly of the same dimensions, 
standing about twenty yards from the dwelling house, its end fronting 
the door. This building is two stories high, and constructed in a 
different manner. It is divided transversely, as the other, but the 
end next the dwelling house is open on three sides, supported by posts 
or pillars. It has an open loft or platform, the ascent to which is by 
a portable stair or ladder; this is a pleasant, cool, airy situation, and 
here the master or chief of the family retires to repose in the hot 
seasons, and receives his guests or visitors. The other half of this 
building is closed on all sides by notched logs; the lowest or ground 
part is a potatoe house, and the upper story over it a granary for 
corn and other provisions. Their houses are constructed of a kind 
of frame. In the first place, strong corner pillars are fixed in the 
ground, with others somewhat less, ranging on a line between; 
these are strengthened by cross pieces of timber, and the whole with 
the roof is covered close with the bark of the Cypress tree. The 
dwelling stands near the middle of a square yard, encompassed by a 
low bank, formed with the earth taken out of the yard, which is 
always carefully swept.” (Bartram, W., (2), pp. 189-191.) 
Cuscowilla became the principal town of the group of settlements 
whose inhabitants were considered as forming the Alachua tribe, and 
who were very active in the Seminole war during the years from 
1835 to 1842. The town visited by Bartram in 1774 was then known 
as the new town, and the name Cuscowilla had been applied to it. 
_*The ancient Alachua on the borders of the savanna’ had been 
abandoned by reason of the unhealthfulness of the locality. The new 
town had a ‘‘public square or council-house,”’ where the chief men 
gathered to conduct important business. In many respects the 
town resembled the later villages of the Creeks, but the buildings 
were fewer in number, and some had been combined and arranged to 
serve various purposes. 
The recent Seminole dwellings, as they have stood among the 
Everglades of southern Florida within the present generation, but 
which undoubtedly perpetuate an ancient form of native structure, 
differ from any known to have been built by the Creeks, and they may 
have been derived by the newcomers from some remnants of the 
native tribes, of whom so little is known. 
108851°—19——6 
