398 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLCKIY [Boll. 137 



of the building and from pronged sticks driven into the ground near by at con- 

 venient places. 



From this description the Seminole's house may seem a poor kind of structure 

 to use as a dwelling ; yet if we take into account the climate of Southern Florida 

 nothing more would seem to be necessary. A shelter from the hot sun and the fre- 

 quent rains and a dry floor above the damp or water covered ground are suflScient 

 for the Florida Indian's needs. 



I-ful-lo-ha-tco's three houses are placed at three corners of an oblong clearing, 

 which is perhaps 40 by 30 feet. At the fourth corner is the entrance into the 

 garden, which is in shape an ellipse, the longer diameter being about 25 feet. 

 The three houses are alike, with the exception that in one of them the elevated 

 platform is only half the size of those of the others. The difference seems to have 

 been made on account of the camp fire. The fire usually burns in the space 

 around which the buildings stand. During the wet season, however, it is moved 

 into the sheltered floor in the building having the half platform. At Tus-ko-na's 

 camp, where several families are gathered, I noticed one building without the 

 interior platform. This was probably the wet weather kitchen. 



To all appearance there is no privacy in these open houses. The only means 

 by which it seems to be secured is by suspending, over where one sleeps, a 

 canopy of thin cotton cloth or calico, made square or oblong in shape, and 

 nearly three feet in height. This serves a double use, as a private room and 

 as a protection against gnats and mosquitoes. 



But while I-ful-lo-ha-tco's house is a fair example of the kind of dwelling 

 in use throughout the tribe, I may not pass unnoticed some innovations which 

 have lately been made upon the general style. There are, I understand, five 

 inclosed houses, which were built and are owned by Florida Indians. Four of 

 these are covered with split cypress planks or slabs; one is constructed of 

 logs. (MacCauley, 1887, pp. 500^501.) 



It seems that one Indian had also built a house after the white 

 man's pattern, and in the northernmost band of Seminole, the Catfish 

 Lake Indians, on Horse Creek, MacCauley found a somewhat differ- 

 ent type of dwelling of a less permanent character (pi. 59, fig. 2). 



In 1910 Skinner found the typical Seminole house to be of the fol- 

 lowing character: 



The typical Seminole lodge is a pent roof of palmetto thatch raised over 

 several platforms on which the occupants sit or recline. There are no sides, 

 since the Everglades and the Big Cypress are so far below the frost-line that 

 the atmosphere is rarely cold, and the protection from the rain afforded by 

 the closely thatched roofs with their wide projecting eaves is all that is 

 necessary. 



The lodges average fifteen feet by twelve, but vary greatly in size. They 

 are made of cypress logs nailed or lashed together. A few houses have a 

 raised floor throughout, giving the appearance of a pile-dwelling. (Skinner, 

 1913, p. 76.) 



Skinner thus describes the "cook-house" and the "eating-house" 

 of the Seminole, the former apparently a late local institution, the 

 latter a direct descendant of the old public house of the north 

 though its construction has been completely altered owing to the 

 difference in climate : 



