104 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 77 
they refer to the unusual rather than to the usual form of habitation 
erected by members of that tribe. He said: “The Osages of the 
Arkansaw occupy several villages. The principal village contains 
about three hundred lodges or huts, and about three thousand souls. 
The lodges are generally from fifty to a hundred feet in length; 
and irregularly arranged, they cover a surface of about half a mile 
square. They are constructed of posts, matting, bark and skins. 
They have neither floors nor chimneys. The fire is built on the 
ground, in the centre of the lodge, and the family, and the guests, 
sit around in a circle, upon skins or mats.” (Morse, (1), p. 219.) 
These various statements appear grossly exaggerated, and on page 
225 of the same work appears the statement that “Their villages 
are nothing more than what they can remove on the shortest notice, 
one horse being capable of carrying house, household furniture, and 
children all at one load.” Morse included in his notes on the Osage 
several letters written by missionaries then working among the 
tribe. One communication from Dr. Palmer, dated at Union, March 
18, 1820, contained a note on their habitations: “ Their houses are 
made of poles, arched from fifteen to twenty feet, covered by 
matting made of flags. At the sides they set up rived planks, lining 
the inside with neatly made flagg matting. They build several fires 
in the lodge, according to its size, or the number of wives the owner 
has. For a fire-place, they dig a hole about as big as a bushel- 
basket, leaving the smoke to ascend through a hole in the roof. 
Around the fire they spread their mats to sit or eat.” And when 
visiting the settlement, “ Having entered the lodge, and had our 
horses turned out, we took a humble seat around the fire. Presently 
there was brought to us a wooden bowl, filled with food made of 
corn. In a short time we were invited to eat at another lodge, and 
before we had finished, at another, and another.” And another 
letter, from W. C. Requa, dated February 3, 1822, told of the native 
dwellings. He wrote at that time: “I live at present among the 
_ Osages, at one of their villages about fifty miles from Union. This 
unhappy people live in low huts, covered with long grass or flag, 
but so badly put’ together that they leak considerably in a storm of 
rain. They have very little furniture, merely a few pots or kettles 
in which they boil their provisions. The art of cooking their meat 
in any other way than boiling is unknown among them, except 
roasting it on a stick before the fire. They have very little variety 
in their food. Wild game, corn, dried pumpkins, and beans con- 
stitute about all on which they subsist. With this, however, they 
are contented. They have wooden bowls, out of which they eat, 
drink, wash themselves.” (Op. cit., pp. 227-233.) Union, where the 
two communications were written, was probably Union Agency, 
