MORGAN. | MANDAN SCAFFOLD AND LADDER. 129 
houses themselves. They were about twenty feet long, twelve feet wide, 
and seven feet high to the flooring, made of posts set upright, with cross- 
pieces resting in forks Other poles were then placed 
longitudinally, upon which was a flooring of willow mats 
These scaffolds, mounted with ladders (Fig. 21), were 
used for drying their skins, and also their maize, meat, 
and vegetables. 
The Indians knew the use of the ladder, and some 
of them made an excellent article before the discovery 
of America. When Coronado visited and captured the 
seven so-called cities of Cibola in 1540-1542, he found 
the people living in seven or eight large joint-tenement 
‘JOO AY OF YOUT 2g ayeag 
Fig. 20.—Drying-scattold. Fic. 21.—Mandan ladder. 
houses, each capable of holding about a thousand persons. ‘These houses 
were without entrances from the ground, but they mounted to the first ter- 
race by means of ladders, and so to each successive story above. ‘The 
