BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 131 
without regard to order. Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush, the largest of the 
Mandan villages, was about 150 or 200 paces in diameter, the second 
was much smaller. The circumference forms an irregular circle, and 
was anciently surrounded with strong posts, or palisades, which have, 
however, gradually disappeared as the natives used them for fuel in 
the cold winters. At four places, at nearly equal distances from 
each other, is a bastion built of clay, furnished with loop-holes, and 
lined both within and without with basket-work of willow branches. 
They form an angle, and are open towards the village; the earth is 
filled in between the basket-work; and it is said that these bulwarks, 
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Fig. 4.—Plan of the large Mandan village, 1833. 
which are now in a state of decay, were erected for the Indians by 
the Whites.” It is curious and interesting that a similar observa- 
tion should have been made by La Verendrye nearly a century before, 
and so the question arises, If made by Europeans, who were they ? 
No protection or fortification of this sort was at the second and 
smaller village. A plan of the larger village, indicating its position 
on the right bank of the Missouri a short distance above Fort Clark, 
is given by Maximilian on page 394 and is here reproduced in figure 
4. This would probably have been near the southern line of the 
present Mercer County, North Dakota. 
Continuing the description of the large village, Maximilian 
wrote: “The huts, as I have before remarked, stand close to each 
other, leaving, in the centre, an open circular space, about sixty 
