ixDi.ws or M.\.\i/.\rr.\.\ islaxd 7 



wind l)l('\v. Tlu'V wore. Iiowcxcr, knee Iciiiiiii^s iiislcMd oi" I lie liij) lentil li 

 st\-l(> ol" the wnniois. and w lapiXMl mI)()UI llicii- wnisls a single s(|nni(' 

 p'uH'v ol" IVin«»;(Ml k^atluM", wliich was ojumi at one side. Sonict iiiics these 

 skirts wei(^ not niad(^ of leather, hut insl(>ad were of cloth wo\'en from 

 Indian henip, such as was also used to make ha^s. The women co\-ei-ed 

 their liala costumes with wami)um heads, and (piill oi- hair emhioideiy, 

 so that som(> of the old chroniclers declare that a dress of this sort was 

 often worth "above 300 j>;uild(M-s." Of course^ the women, like the men, 

 ])rotected tlieii" teet with dainty soft-soled moccasins. 



The houses or wiji;wams of the Manhattan and their neighbors werc^ 

 never the conical shaped, leather-covered, painted tipis so often shown in 

 ilhist rations. Lodges of that type were found only in the Great Plains 

 area, and northward up the Mackenzie River and thence eastward about 

 Hudson Bay and Labrador. The Manhattan lodges were of bark, and 

 they and the other local tribes commonly built either square or semi- 

 globular houses of poles arched over and set in the ground, covered with 

 bark, mats made of rushes, with corn husks, or sedge grass. Such houses 

 looked very much like wooden bowls turned upside down. In the center 

 of each wigwam a hole was dug in the earthen floor to hold the fire so that 

 the sparks might not fly up and ignite the dry walls of the lodge. 



In such fire holes, marking the sites of abandoned Indian houses, 

 archaeologists may still find fire-cracked stones, wood ashes, the split 

 bones of deer and other animals broken open to extract the marrow, 

 oyster shells, fragments of earthen kettles, stone and bone implements, 

 and all the discarded debris of the household utensils which were thrown 

 away b}' their departed owners. Sometimes in such a place whole articles 

 are found, hidden there perhaps during a sudden attack and never 

 recovered by the owner. There too, in winter, when the frozen ground 

 outside made digging impossible, the bodies of the dead were sometimes 

 buried in the useful fireplace, and the lodge either destroyed or set up 

 elsewhere. In proof of this skeletons have often been found in these 

 forgotten fireplaces. 



The interior furnishing of a round lodge was simple enough. A 

 bench ran all around the inside of the wall, and on this the inhabitants 

 both sat and slept. Poles swung horizontally from the roof supported 

 strings of braided corn, baskets or bags of food, and other paraphernalia. 

 A hole was left in the roof, directly over the hearth, for the smoke to 

 escape. 



Another kind of house, and one that was probably used most fre- 

 quently in the summer, was a square lodge, made of poles and bark, with 



