ABORIGINAL USE OF WOOD IN NEW YORK 105 



which had been prepared for us." Similar notes follow. Mr 

 Morgan's conclusion therefore is hardly sound, that " Indian chiefs 

 were housed with the people, and no better than the poorest of 

 them." The distinctions between the rich and poor Iroquois were 

 great. Land was not held altogether in common, and food was 

 quite as much property as anything else. Even hunting and fishing 

 privileges were regulated. The writer has elsewhere pointed out 

 some of the weak points of this distinguished ethnologist's argu- 

 ments, but the building feature alone is in line with the purpose 

 of this paper. 



Nearly all' early accounts of permanent circular lodges represent 

 them as round-topped. Figure 26 is from one of Champlain's 

 plates. Figure 25 shows the frame of a similar lodge. Poles were 

 placed in a circle, the tops bent over and bound together, and on 

 these bark was laid or mats were spread. 



At first Iroquois villages were removed every 10 or 15 years, but 

 more rarely afterward. In the first half of the 17th century the 

 Onondagas occupied five different sites, but remained on Indian hill, 

 Pompey, at least 30 years. In 1681 they left that spot and went 

 to Butternut creek. Writing from Onondaga, Aug. 25, 1682, Father 

 Jean de Lamberville said : 



On my arrival here I found the Iroquois of this village occupied 

 in transporting their corn, their effects and their cabins to a place 

 2 leagues distant from their former residence, where they had dwelt 

 for 19 years. They make this change in order to have there their 

 firewood in convenient proximity, and to secure fields more fertile 

 than those that were abandoned. This is not done without diffi- 

 culty ... A single family will hire sometimes 80 or 100 per- 

 sons; and these are in turn obliged to' render the same service for 

 those who' may require it from them. Relation, 1683 



The Onondagas were 10 years longer than this at Indian hill, 

 but the so called castle, a mile west, probably represented the 

 shorter term, and the Christian Indians seem to have congregated 

 there. The transportation of cabins 6 miles is the point to which 

 attention is now directed. This seems to refer merely to those parts 

 on which much work had been expended, like the carved or painted 

 fronts. Bark and frames were had on the new site. 



