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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



they place long slender saplings in the ground, having the bark 

 stripped off, in a straight line of two rows, as far asunder as they 

 intend the breadth of the house to be, and continue the rows as 

 far as it is intended the length shall be. Those sapling poles are 

 bent over toward each other in the form of an arch, and secured 

 together, having the appearance of a garden arbor. The sapling 

 poles are then crossed with split poles in the form of lathing, which 

 are well fastened to the upright work. The lathings are heaviest 

 near the ground. A space of about a foot wide is left open in the 

 crown of the arch. For covering they use the bark of ash, chest- 

 nut, and other trees, which they pull off in pieces of about six feet 

 long, and as broad as they can. They cover their house, laying the 

 smooth side inwards, leaving an open space of about a foot wide in 

 the crown, to let out the smoke. They lap the side edges and ends 

 over each other, having regard to the shrinkage of the bark, securing 

 the covering with withes to the lathings. . . They have one 

 door in the centre of the house. When the bark of the ash and chest- 

 nut trees is not loose, they have recourse to the timber trees, which 

 grow along the brooks, the bark of which can be taken off during the 

 whole summer season. They kindle and keep their fires in the middle 

 of their houses, from one end to the other, and the opening in the roof 

 lets out the smoke. From 16 to 18 families frequently dwell in one 

 house according to its size. A. Van der Donck, 5 : 196 



He adds elsewhere: 



In their castles they frequently have 20 or 30 houses. We have 

 measured their houses, and found some of them to be 180 yards 

 long, and as narrow as before stated. In those places they crowd 

 an astonishing number of persons, and it is surprising to see them 

 out in open day. 



There must be an error in this extravagant estimate of 540 feet. 

 In the Description of New Netherland by Arnoldus Montanus, pub- 

 lished in 1 67 1 and evidently taken from this, it is called 180 feet in- 

 stead of yards. 



In 1635 the French missionaries among the Hurons compared their 

 houses to garden arbors: 



Some are covered with great pieces of ash bark, of elm, and of fir 

 or spruce ; and though those of cedar are the best, according to the 

 most common advice and use, there is yet this inconvenience, that 

 they are almost as susceptible to fire as matches . . . These 

 cabins or arbors are of different sizes; some are 2 fathoms in 

 length, others are 10, others 20, 30 and 40; the ordinary width is 

 about four fathoms, the height is almost the same. There are no 

 different stories. Relation, 1635 



