MORGAN. OJIBWA LODGE. els 
sions; some of them being sixty feet long by thirty wide, and from ten to 
fifteen feet high.”! The houses were made of split boards on a frame of 
timber. 
COMMUNAL HOUSES OF TRIBES IN LOWER STATUS OF BARBARISM. 
Among the Indian tribes in the Lower Status of barbarism some 
diversity existed in the plans of the lodge and house. Fig. 7, which 
is taken from Schooleraft’s work on 
the Indian tribes, shows the frame 
of an Ojibwa cabin or lodge of the 
best class, as it may still be seen 
on the south shore of Lake Superior. 
Its mechanism is sutticiently shown 
by the frame of elastic poles exhib- 
ited by the figure. It is covered with 
bark, usually canoe-birch, taken off 
in large pieces and attached with 
splints. Its size on the ground va- HEE Cie SME LEO OEE NE SESE et 
ried from ten to sixteen feet, and its height from six to ten. Twigs of 
spruce or hemlock were strewn around the border of the lodge on the 
ground floor, upon which blankets and skins were spread for beds. The 
fire-pit was in the center of the floor, over which, in the center of the 
roof, was an opening for the exit of the smoke. Such a lodge would 
accommodate, in the aboriginal plan of living, two and sometimes three 
married pairs with their children. Several such lodges were usually found 
in a cluster, and the several households consisted of related families, the 
principal portion being of the same gens or clan. I am not able to state 
whether or not the households thus united by the bond of kin practiced 
communism in living in ancient times, but it seems probable. Carver, who 
visited an Ojibwa village in Wisconsin in 1767, makes it appear that each 
house was occupied by several families. ‘‘ This town,” he remarks, ‘‘con- 
tains about forty houses, and can send out upwards of a hundred warriors, 
many of whom are fine young men.”” This would give, by the usual rule 
1 Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, No, 220, p.5. 2 Travels, etc., p. 65, 
8 
