RUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 183 
without any Partition to separate it from the rest: However, they 
have Nothing in Common besides the Fire, which is in the Midst of 
the Hut, and never goes out. It is made of great Trees, the Ends 
whereof are laid together, so that when once lighted, it lasts a long 
Time, and the first Comer takes Care to keep it up.” Here fol- 
lows a brief description of the appearance of the structures of the 
village, the dwellings resembling those later mentioned as being 
typical of the Wichita. “The Cottages are round at the Top, after 
the manner of a Bee-Hive, or a Reek of Hay. Some of them are 
sixty Foot Diameter.” There follows a brief account of the method 
of constructing such a house. “In order to build them, they plant 
Trees as thick as a Man’s thigh, tall and strait, and placing them 
in a Circle, and joyning the Tops together, from the Dome, or 
round Top, then they lash and cover them with Weeds. When 
they remove their Dwellings, they generally burn the Cottages 
they leave, and build new on the Ground they design to inhabit. 
Their Moveables are some Bullocks Hides. and Goats Skins well 
eur’d, some Mats close wove, wherewith they adorn their Huts, and ~ 
some Earthen Vessels, which they are very skilful at making, and 
wherein they boil their Flesh or Roots, or Sagamise, which, as has 
been said, is their Pottage. They have also some small Baskets made 
of Canes, serving to put in their Fruit and other Provisions. Their 
Beds are made of Canes, rais’d two or three Foot above the Ground, 
handsomely fitted with Mats and Bullocks Hides, or Goats Skins well 
cur’d, which serve them for Feather Beds, or Quilts and Blankets; 
and those Beds are parted one from another by Mats hung up.” 
(Joutel, (1), pp. 106-109.) 
The preceding is probably the clearest description of the furnish- 
ings of a native structure standing beyond the Mississippi during the 
last quarter of the seventeenth century that has been preserved. The 
large circular structures served as the dwelling place of many indi- 
viduals. The beds were placed, so it may be assumed, in a line around 
the wall, each separated from its neighbor by a mat. A large fire 
burned in the center of the space. In many respects the large dwell- 
ings of the Caddo must have closely resembled the great round struc- 
tures which stood north of St. Augustine, Florida, about the year 
1700. (Bushnell, (1), pp. 84-86.) 
Brief accounts of the many small tribes living south of the Arkan- 
sas River soon after the transfer of Louisiana contain references to 
the numerous villages, but fail, unfortunately, to describe the struc- 
tures in detail. (Sibley, (1), pp. 721-725.) The dwellings probably 
resembled those already mentioned as standing a century and more 
before. 
71934 °—22—_13 
