swanton] EARLY EISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 353 
come back they occupj their bouses again; and if they find thai the enemy lias 
burnt them down, they luiild others of similar materials. Thus magnificent are 
thepalacee of the Indians. 1 
The description of Timucua houses given by Spark contains 
details not noted by the others: 
Their houses are not many together, for in one house an hundred of them do lodge; 
they being made much like a greal barae, and in strength not inferiour to ours, for 
they haue stanchions and rafters of whole trees, and are covered with palmito-leaues, 
hauing no place diuided, bul one small roome for iljeir king and queene. 2 
It is to be noticed that the houses at the mouth of the St. Marys 
were covered with reeds, while on those which were farther south 
palmetto was employed. It is probable that the frames and the rest 
of the construction were practically identical. The greater part of the 
common houses figured by Le Moyne are circular, but there is another 
type square or squarish in ground plan and with a pronounced gable, 
although the gable ends are sloping, not perpendicular. Besides 
t bese, two houses are figured square or oblong in outline, with a dome- 
shaped roof, and the door in one end very similar to some of the 
houses on the North Carolina coast. 3 The town house, the one 
described at most length by Ribault, is also figured by Le Moyne in 
one place. 4 It is represented as a long, quadrilateral building with a 
regular gable and perpendicular ends. This specimen appears to be 
thatched with palmetto like the rest. In 1699 Dickenson described 
the town houses in three mission stations in this region, but these 
were mainly occupied by Indians from the former province of Guale, 
and the architecture can not be set down as certainly Timucua. 
What he has to say regarding them will be found on pages 92-93. 
Cabeza de Vaca must mean one of the town houses when he speaks 
of a house ''so large that it could hold more than 300 people." 5 
The following description of the village of Ucita on Tampa Bay 
may be given by way of contrast, showing as it does either a some- 
what different method of arrangement on the west coast of Florida 
or greater variety in method than the French narratives indicate:. 
The town [of Ucita] was of seven or eight houses, built of timber, and covered with 
palm leaves. The chief's house stood near the beach, upon a very high mount, made 
by hand foi defense; at the other end of the town was a temple, on the roof of which 
perched a wooden fowl with gilded eyes. 6 
In the (<nter of the town of Uriutina was "a very large open court," 7 
and in Napetaca a "town yard " is mentioned. 8 It appears that the 
beds of these Indian- were made on a raised platform about the sides 
' Le Moyne, Narrative, p. 12 (ill.). * Bandolier, Jour. Cabeza de Vaca, p. 10. 
3 Ilakluyt, Voyages, m, p. 613. • Bourne, Narr. of De Soto, I, p. 23. 
! Le Moyne, Narrative, pis. 30-33. 7 Ibid., II, p. 72. 
1 Ibid., pi. 30. 8 Ibid., p. 44. 
1 18061°— 22 23 
