BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 103 
interest at the present time to discover the exact location of one of 
the Osage villages of a century ago, and to determine the position 
of the caches and burials, if any exist, in relation to the sites of the 
habitations. 
About the time of Schoolcraft’s journey through the Ozarks an- 
other traveler went up the valley of the Arkansas, and when far 
west of the Mississippi came in contact with the Osage. Nuttall, 
on July 15, 1819, wrote: “The first village of the Osages lies about 
60 miles from the mouth of the Verdigris, and is said to contain 7 
‘ or 800 men and their families. About 60 miles further, on the 
Osage River, is situated the village of the chief called White Hair. 
The whole of the Osages are now, by governor Clark, enumerated at 
about 8000 souls. At this time nearly the whole town, men, and 
women, were engaged in their summer hunt, collecting bison tallow 
and meat. The principal chief is called by the French Clarmont, 
-although his proper name is the Iron bird, a species of Eagle.” 
(Nuttall, (1), p. 173.) Under date of August 5, 1819, he referred 
to the women of the tribe, saying: “It is to their industry and in- 
genuity, that the men owe every manufactured article of their dress, 
as well as every utensil in their huts. The Osage women appear to 
excel in these employments. Before the Cherokees burnt down their 
town on the Verdigris, their houses were chiefly covered with hand- 
wove matts of bulrushes. Their baskets and bed matts of this mate- 
rial, were parti-coloured and very handsome. This manufacture, I 
am told, is done with the assistance of three sticks, arranged in some 
way so as to answer the purpose of a loom, and the strands are 
inlaid diagonally. They, as well as the Cherokees and others, fre- 
quently take the pains to unravel old blankets and cloths, and re- 
weave the yarn into belts and garters.” (Op. cit., pp. 192-193.) 
Evidently it was not the custom of the Osage to entirely abandon 
their villages when they went on their periodical hunts. Some re- 
mained, either through choice or necessity. In the above quotation 
Nuttall spoke of “nearly the whole town” being absent on their. 
summer hunt, and one very familiar with the habits of the tribe 
said: “ The Osages and Kansas live in villages, which, even during 
the hunting seasons, are never wholly abandoned, as in the case 
with several tribes settled on the Missouri.” (Hunter, (1), p. 334.) 
Regarding the general appearance of the villages: “Their lodges 
“~ are built promiscuously, in situations to please their respective pro- 
prietors: they are arranged to neither streets nor alleys, and are 
sometimes so crowded, as to render the passage between them diffi- 
cult.” 
That some of the Osage constructed very long structures is told 
by Morse, but if the dimensions given in his account are accurate 
71934°—22-——8 
