106 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES 
COMMUNAL HOUSES OF TRIBES IN SAVAGERY. 
Mr. Stephen Powers, in his recent and instructive work on the ‘“ Cali- 
1 
fornia Tribes,”’ enumerates seven varieties of the lodge constructed by 
these tribes, adapted to the different climates of the State. One form was 
adapted to the raw and foggy climate of the California coast, constructed of 
redwood poles over an excavated pit; another to the snow-belt of the Coast 
Range and of the Sierras; another to the high ranges of the Sierras; an- 
other to the warm coast valleys; another, limited to a small area, constructed 
of interlaced willow poles, the interstices being open; another to the wood- 
less plains of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, dome-shaped and covered 
with earth; and another to the hot and nearly rainless region of the Kern 
and Tulare valleys, made of tule. Four of these varieties are given below, 
the illustrations being taken from his work. 
“In making a wigwam, they excavated about two fae banked up the 
earth enough to keep out the water, and threw the remainder on the roof 
dome-shaped. With the Lolsel the bride often remains in the father’s house, 
and her husband comes to live with her, whereupon half the purchase 
money is returned. Thus there will be two or three families in one lodge. 
They are very clannish, especially the mountain tribes, and family influ- 
ence is all potent.” Elsewhere he remarks upon this form of house as fol- 
lows: “On the great woodless plains of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, 
the savages naturally had recourse to earth for a material. The round, 
domed-shaped, earth-covered lodge is considered the characteristic one of 
California ; and probably two-thirds of its immense aboriginal population 
lived in dwellings of this description. The doorway is sometimes directly 
on top, sometimes on the ground, at one side. I have never been able to 
ascertain whether the amount of rain-fall of any given locality had any 
influence in determining the place of the door.”* This mode of entrance 
reappears in the more artistic house of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, 
where the rooms are entered by means of a trap- -door in the roof, the de- 
| Powell SGeceeoin al See, fen EhOk: the Pg Mose eee Contributions to enenene 
Ethnology, vol. iii, Powers’ Tribes of California, p. 436, 
2Tb., p. 221. 
3Tb., p, 437. 
