382 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 118 



In this connection it is interesting to note that the present-day Yuchi 

 has knowledge of house construction of a type quite similar to that 

 found in Norris Basin, which has for them become obsolete. This 

 information was obtained by Speck 16 in 1904 in his ethnological 

 studies of the Yuchi band of the Creek nation, now living in the State 

 of Oklahoma. 



Of their house construction he says : 



The Yuchi remember still another type of family dwelling house which seems 

 to show that the common house type of the Algonkian tribes bordering the 

 Atlantic coast farther north was known to the Yuchi as well. We are informed 

 by the Yuchi that the framework of this type of house, yu, consisted of poles 

 stuck in the ground in parallel rows at certain distances apart. These were bent 

 over and lashed together at the top, forming an arched passage underneath. The 

 whole top and the sides were then covered with strips of bark cut entire from 

 cypress trees and attached in overlapping layers to the cross pieces connecting 

 the upright poles. Matting is also said to have been used as house covering 

 material. Such structures are commonly remembered to have been about 10 

 feet high and about 16 feet square on the ground. The roof slabs were weighted 

 down with halved logs secured at the ends to the framework. The fireplace was 

 in the center of the floor space. It was excavated about 6 inches below the sur- 

 face of the ground. A hole was left in the roof directly above the fireplace for 

 the smoke to escape. 



In the way of household furniture the Yuchi remember that beds, ton' fa, used 

 to consist of a framework of parallel sticks, supported by forked uprights, upon 

 which skins were piled. These benchlike beds were ranged about the walls. 

 Mats were suspended to form screens when desired. 



This statement in many details is strangely like the house construc- 

 tion called "small-log" type in Norris Basin. 



Finally, if the Yuchi, or Tamahita, and the Creeks were associated 

 in 1673 and earlier in the Norris Basin, their later friendship and 

 association is easy to explain. 



» Speck, 1909, pp. 40-41. 



