DORSEY] EARTH LODGES. 271 



under the baik of trees Saiissouci's village, near the town of Decatur, 

 Nebraska. 



Earth lodges were generally used for large gatherings, such as feasts, 

 councils, or dauces. Occasionally there was a depression in the center 

 of the lodge which was used as a fireplace; but it was not over G inches 

 deep. Each earth lodge had a ladder, made by cutting a series of deep 

 notches along one side of a log. Ou a bluff near the Omaha agency 

 1 found the remains of several ancient earth lodges, with entrances on 

 the southern sides. Two of these were 75 feet and one was 100 feet in 

 diameter. In the center of the largest there was a hollow about 3 feet 

 deep and nearly 4 feet below the surface outside the lodge. 



ODGES OF Baiuv or Mats. 



Tlie Omaha sometimes make baric lodges for summer occupancy, as 

 did the Iowa and Sak. j^iu'cfipu jih'ga, or low lodges covered with 

 mats, were used by tlie Omaha iu former days. Such lodges are still 

 common among th« Winnebago, the Osage, and other tribes. The 

 ground plan of such a lodge forms an ellipse. The height is hardly 

 over 7 feet from the ground. The tent poles are arranged thus: Each 



V\o. ri07.— (rrnulitl plan of Osage loilgf. 



pole has one end planted in the ground, the other end being bent down 

 and fastened to the pole immediately opposite; a number of poles thus 

 arranged in pairs formed both wall jiosts and rafters. 



Generally there was one fireplace and one smokehole iu such a lodge; 

 but when I visited the Osage in 1883, I entered a low lodge with two 

 fireplaces, each equidistant from its end of the lodge and the entrance, 

 each fireplace having its smokehole. 



Ski.v Lodges or Tents. 



The tent was used when the people were migrating, and also when 

 they were traveling in search of the buffalo. It was also the favorite 

 abode of a household during the winter season, as the earth lodge 

 was generally erected iu an exposed situation, selected on account of 

 comfort in the summer. The tent could be pitched in the timber or 

 brush, or down in wooded ravines, where the cold winds never had full 

 sweep. Hence, many Indians abandoned their houses in winter and 

 went into their tents, even when they were of canvas. 



The tent was commonly made of ten or a dozen dressed ov tanned 

 buffalo skins. It was in the shape of a sugar loaf, and was from 10 to 



