BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 161 
turn passed it to the other Indians. The addresses were then made 
and the council deliberated on the several questions presented. 
The expedition moved on from the Grand Pawnee to the village 
of the Republican Pawnee, which stood on the bank of the Loup 
Fork of the Platte, some 20 miles distant from the former, with the 
rolling prairie between. Approaching the river they could see, on 
the far side, “a high bluff, on which was situated the dingy lodges, 
of the Republican village.” They were welcomed by the people of 
the village, and soon reached the lodge of the principal chief, Blue 
Coat, which they entered. Then “it was not long before the lodge 
became crowded. The old warriors, moved with a hushed step, 
across the building, and listened, to our conversation.” Soon an in- 
vitation was received to attend a feast at the lodge of the second 
chief. Entering that lodge, he was seen seated upon “a small leather 
mat ... Around him were lounging about a dozen Indians. Some, 
reclining with their backs against the pillars supporting the roof, 
with their eyes half closed, were smoking their stone pipes. Some 
were lying half asleep upon the clay floor, with their feet within a 
few inches of the fire; and others were keeping up a sleepy song. 
“At a short distance from the fire, half a dozen squaws were 
pounding corn, in large mortars, and chattering vociferously at the 
same time. In the farther part of the building, about a dozen naked 
children, with faces almost hid by their bushy, tangled hair, were 
rolling and wrestling upon the floor, occasionally causing the lodge 
to echo to their childish glee. In the back ground, we could perceive 
some half dozen shaggy, thievish-looking wolf dogs, skulking among 
the hides and bundles, in search of food, and gliding about with the 
air of dogs, who knew that they had no business there.” (Op. cit., 
pp. 96-99.) Such was a domestic scene within a Pawnee lodge. 
A very clear and concise description of the interior arrangement 
and fittings of an earth lodge, one standing in the village of the 
Grand Pawnee during the autumn of 1835, has been preserved in 
Dunbar’s journal. On October 22, after referring to the construc- 
tion of the lodge itself, he wrote: “ Within these buildings the earth 
is beat down hard, and forms the floor. In the center a circular 
place is dug about 8 inches deep, and 3 feet in diameter. This is the 
fireplace. The earth that is taken from this place is spatted down 
around it, and forms the hearth. Near the fireplace a stake is firmly 
fixed in the earth in an inclined position, and serves all the purposes 
of a crane. Mats made of rushes are spread down round the fire on 
which they sit. Back next the walls are the sleeping apartments. 
A frame work is raised about two feet from the floor, on this are 
placed small rods, interwoven with slips of elm bark. On these 
rods a rush mat is spread. At proper distances partitions are set 
