BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI Pie 
having taken refuge there, to be forced from it. This lodge. is also 
the general place of deposit for such things as they devote to the 
Father of Life.” 
On the following day, June 13, 1811, Brackenridge “ rambled 
through the village,” which he found “excessively filthy,” with in- 
numerable dogs running about. Then he proceeded to describe the 
habitations: “ The lodges are constructed in the following manner: 
Four large forks of about fifteen feet in height, are placed in the 
ground, usually about twenty feet from each other, with hewn logs, 
or beams across; from these beams, other pieces of wood are placed 
slanting; smaller pieces are placed above, leaving an aperture at 
the top, to admit the light, and to give vent to the smoke. These 
upright pieces are interwoven with osiers, after which, the whole is 
covered. with earth, though not sodded. An opening is left at one 
side, for a door, which is secured by a kind of projection of ten or 
twelve feet, enclosed on all sides, and forming a narrow entrance, 
which might be easily defended. A buffalo robe suspended at the 
entrance, answers as a door. The fire is made in a hole in the 
ground, directly under the aperture at the top. Their beds elevated 
a few feet, are placed around the lodge, and enclosed with curtains 
of dressed elk skins. At the upper end of the lodge, there is a kind 
of trophy erected ; two buffalo heads, fantastically painted, are placed 
on a little elevation; over them are placed, a variety of consecrated 
things, such as shields, skins of a rare or valuable kind, and quivers 
of arrows. The lodges seem placed at random, without any regu- 
larity or design, and are so much alike, that it was for some time 
before I could learn to return to the same one. The village is sur- 
rounded by a palisade of cedar poles, but ina very bad state. Around 
the village, there are little plats enclosed by stakes, intwined with 
osiers, in which they cultivate maize, tobacco, and beans; but their 
principal field is at the distance of a mile from the village, to which, 
such of the females whose duty it is to attend to their culture, go 
and return morning and evening. Around the village they have 
buffalo robes stuck up on high poles. I saw one so arranged as to 
bear a resemblance to the human figure, the hip bone of the buffaloe 
represented the head, the sockets of the thigh bones looked like eyes.” 
(Op. cit., pp. 247-248.) 
On June 14 they walked together to the upper of the two villages, 
which were separated by a narrow stream. They entered several 
lodges and were always pleasantly received by the occupants and 
offered food, which included fresh buffalo meat served in wooden 
dishes or bowls, and “ homony made of corn dried in the milk, mixed 
with beans, which was prepared with buffalo marrow.” This latter, 
according to Bradbury, was “ warmed on the fire in an earthen ves- 
