BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 129 
tudes and groups, resting on their buffalo-robes and beautiful mats of 
rushes.” Their beds, or sleeping places, stood against the wall and 
were formed of poles lashed together and covered with buffalo skins. 
Each such bed was screened by skins of the buffalo or elk, arranged as 
curtains, with a hole in front to serve as an entrance. “Some of 
these coverings or curtains are exceedingly beautiful, being cut taste- 
fully into fringe, and handsomely ornamented with porcupine’s quills 
and picture writings or hieroglyphics.” Catlin’s sketch of the in- 
terior of a lodge, as just described, is reproduced in plate 38, a. In 
this picture the beds resting against the wall are clearly shown, the 
sunken fireplace is surrounded by the occupants of the lodge, and on 
the extreme right are two pottery vessels and a bull-boat, so char- 
acteristic of the upper Missouri. 
Near the center of the large village, surrounded by the lodges, was 
the open space where games were played and their various ceremonies 
enacted. Referring to this, Catlin wrote (op. cit., p. 88): “In the 
centre of the village js an open space, or public area, of 150 feet in 
diameter, and circular in form, which is used for all public games 
and festivals, shows and exhibitions; and also for their ‘annual 
religious ceremonies.’ . . . The lodges around this open space front 
in, with their doors towards the centre; and in the middle of 
this circle stands an object of great religious veneration . . . This 
object is in form of a large hogshead, some eight or ten feet high, 
made of planks and hoops... One of the lodges fronting on this 
circular area, and facing this strange object of their superstition, 
is called the ‘Medicine Lodge, or council house. It is in this 
sacred building that these wonderful ceremonies, in commemora- 
tion of the flood, take place.” Later Catlin witnessed the remark- 
able ceremony, as enacted by the Mandan in the midst of their large 
village, and prepared a series of paintings showing the various 
phases. The original pictures are in the collection belonging to the 
United States National Museum, and one, the last, showing what they 
termed the “last race,” is now reproduced as plate 38, 6. In the 
center of the open space stands the sacred object, “in form of a large 
hogshead.” An outline drawing of this painting was reproduced 
as plate 69 in Catlin’s work. 
One of the most interesting and vivid passages in Catlin’s writings 
_ is his description of this village as it impressed him. To quote (op. 
cit., pp. 88-89): “In ranging the eye over the village from where 
J am writing, there is presented to the view the strangest mixture and 
medley of unintelligible trash (independent of the living beings that 
are in motion), that can possibly be imagined. On the roofs of the 
lodges, besides the groups of living, are buffaloes’ skulls, skin canoes, 
pots and pottery ; sleds and sledges—and suspended on poles, erected 
