56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL, 77 
narrative, showing the “two different kind of lodges used by the 
northwest Indians,” the first being the skin lodge of the prairie 
tribes, and “of this nature are all the lodges used by the Dacomayy 
the second were the bark-covered structures of the Ojibway, “who 
for the most part live to the north-east of the buffalo regions.” To 
this latter class must have belonged the habitations of the Siouan 
tribes before they were forced from their early homes among the 
forests and lakes to the eastward. 
When referring to the two characteristic forms of habitations it 
will be of interest to quote from the writings of one who traversed 
the country more than a century and a half ago, when all was in its 
primitive condition, but, like many writers of that period, he failed 
to give details which at the present time would prove of the greatest - 
value. He wrote: “The Indians, in general, pay a greater attention 
to their dress and to the ornaments with which they decorate their 
persons, than to the accommodation of their huts or tents. They 
construct the latter in the following simple and expeditious manner. 
“Being provided with poles of a proper length, they fasten two 
of them across, near their ends, with bands made of bark. Having 
done this, they raise them up, and extend the bottom of each as wide 
as they purpose to make the area of the tent: they then erect others 
of an equal height, and fix them so as to support the two principal 
ones. On the whole they lay skins of the elk or deer, sewed to- 
gether, in quantity sufficient to cover the poles, and by lapping over 
to form the door. A great number of skins are sometimes required 
for this purpose, as some of their tents are very capacious. That of 
the chief warrior of the Naudowessies was at least forty feet in cir- 
cumference, and very commodious. 
“They observe no regularity in fixing their tents when they 
encamp, but place them just as it suits their conveniency. 
“The huts also, which those who, use no tents, erect when they 
travel, for very few tribes have fixed abodes or regular towns or 
villages, are equally simple, and almost as soon constructed. 
“They fix small pliable poles in the ground, by bending them till 
they meet at the top and form a semi-circle, then lash them together. 
These they cover with mats made of rushes platted, or with birch 
bark, which they carry with them in their canoes for this purpose. 
“These cabins have neither chimnies nor windows; there is only 
a small aperture left in the middle of the roofs through which the 
smoke is discharged, but as this is obliged to be stopped up when it 
rains or snows violently, the smoke then proves exceedingly trouble- 
some. 
“They lie on skins, generally those of the bear, which are placed 
in rows on the ground; and if the floor is not large enough to contain 
