180 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL. 7 
(Winship, (1), pp. 528-529.) This evidently referred to structures 
similar to that shown on the right of the lodge in plate 55, a. 
A photograph of a large Wichita dwelling, of the form mentioned, 
is reproduced in plate 55, 6. The picture was probably made about 
the year 1880. The door in front is open, and there appears to be 
another on the extreme left, which would be 90° from the former; 
therefore there were evidently four entrances. This is explained in 
the following account of the construction and arrangement of such , 
a dwelling: 
“Its construction was begun by drawing a circle on the ground, 
and on the outline setting a number of crotched posts, in which 
beams were laid. Against these, poles were set very closely in a row 
so as to lean inward; these in turn were laced with willow rods 
and their tops brought together and securely fastened so as to form 
a peak. Over this frame a heavy thatch of grass was laid and 
bound down by slender rods, and at each point where the rods 
joined an ornamental tuft of grass was tied. Two poles, laid at 
right angles, jutting out in four projecting points, were. fastened 
to the apex of the roof, and over the center, where they crossed, 
rose a spire, 2 ft. high or more, made of bunches of grass. Four 
doors, opening to each point of the compass, were formerly made, 
but now, except when the house is to be used for ceremonial pur- 
poses, only two are provided, one on the east to serve for the morn- 
ing, and one on the west to go in and out of when the sun is in that 
quarter. The fireplace was a circular excavation in the center of 
the floor, and the smoke found egress through a hole left high up 
in the roof toward the E. The four projecting beams at the peak 
pointed toward and were symbolic of the four points of the compass, 
where were the paths down which the powers descended to help 
man. The spire typified the abode in the zenith of the mysterious 
permeating force that animates all nature. The fireplace was ac- 
counted sacred; it was never treated hghtly even in the daily life 
of the family. The couches of the occupants were placed against 
the wall. They consisted of a framework on which was fitted a 
woven covering of reeds. Upon this robes or rush mats were spread, 
The grass house is a comely structure. Skill is required to build it, 
and it has an attractive appearance both within and without.” 
(Fletcher, (1).) 
An interesting photograph made some.30 or 40 years ago, near 
Anadarko, Caddo County, Oklahoma, is reproduced in plate 55, a. 
This shows a grass lodge of the usual form, and to the right of it 
appears to be an arbor or shelter, having a thatched roof but open 
on the sides. This second structure may be of the form which was 
seen by the Spaniards nearly four centuries ago, a place “ where the 
