SwANTON] INlDIANS OP THE SOUTHEiASTERN UNITED STATES 417 



long poles planted in the earth about 2 feet apart in a great circle 40 to 50 

 feet in diameter which approach each other above, where they are brought to- 

 gether and tied, forming a kind of dome. Around these poles the savages 

 plait pliant withes arranged horizontally at vertical distances of about a 

 foot which they attach with cords from pole to pole. Afterward, kneading well 

 with their feet some clay which they mix with tliat kind of moss of which 

 I have spoken, commonly called "Spanish beard," they make a mud and with it 

 they plaster their cabins, which, when this work is finished, appear as if built 

 entirely of earth. They are then covered with the bark of the cypress or with 

 palmetto. Such are the houses of the savages, in which one discovers neither 

 windows nor chimneys but only a narrow door 5 feet high. (Dumont, 1753, 

 vol. 1, pp. 142-144 ; Swanton, 1911, p. 59.) 



The difference between this house and the dwellings of the Quapaw 

 as revealed to us by other writers will be noted, and, on the other 

 hand, their resemblance to the southern hot house so often mentioned. 

 We seem to have additional testimony to the fact that this house 

 belonged to the Yazoo River people in a statement by Gravier, who 

 visited the Yazoo, Ofo, and Tunica in November 1700, and reports 

 that their cabins were "round and vaulted" (Shea, 1861, p. 135). In 

 1721 Charlevoix visited the Tunica in a village on the east side of 

 the Mississippi opposite the mouth of the Red of which they had 

 dispossessed the Houma Indians. The chief was apparently living 

 in the dwelling formerly occupied by the Houma chief and this was 

 square, while the remaining houses of the town were partly square 

 and partly round. It is a fair inference that the square houses were 

 those which had formerly belonged to the Houma and the round 

 ones the dwellings which the Tunica had themselves constructed. 

 The only obstacle to such an identification is the fact that Charle- 

 voix says the round houses were "like those of the Natches," but this 

 may be interpreted as a mistake on his part since he flatly contradicts 

 himself elsewhere and is flatly contradicted by Du Pratz. (French, 

 1851, pp. 159-160, 173-174; Swanton, 1911, pp. 59, 316.) 



De Montigny also describes a "fort house," which one is led to 

 infer was also constructed by the Quapaw and Yazoo, but there is 

 the same uncertainty here, and it is more likely to have been a 

 southern type of house like the other since Adair tells us of Chicka- 

 saw houses provided with loopholes which appear to have been 

 similar. (Dumont, 1753, vol. 1, pp. 142-144; Adair, 1775, p. 420.) 



Dumont says : 



There are also some square cabins in which many holes have been pierced 

 at regular intervals. These are something like loopholes, serving to discover 

 the enemy and to shoot through. (Dumont, 1753, vol. 1, pp. 143-144; Swanton, 

 1911, p. 59.) 



These were probably similar to the summer houses in general plan. 

 The missionary Poisson mentions "an open cabin at the field where 



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