ABORIGINAL USE OF WOOD IN NEW YORK IOI 



The bark house is called ka-no'-sa by the Onondagas, g'd-no'-sote 

 by the Senecas. The Onondaga word for council house is a-lius-hah- 

 tuk'-wah. A single house, according to Mr Morgan, was about 20 

 by 15 feet square, and of the same hight. The frame was of five 

 upright poles at the sides and four at each end. In his plan these 

 were simply forked at the top, not bent over as in early days. Cross 

 poles in these forks made a plate to' which the rafters and poles were 

 firmly attached, strengthened by other transverse poles. This frame 

 was shingled with broad pieces of ash or elm bark, stitched to the 

 poles. An outer frame made these mure secure. The fire was in the 

 center, and there was a door at each end, over one of which the clan 

 totem was cut. The platform within was 2 feet from the ground, 

 and there was another 5 feet above. Various articles were kept over- 

 head. This varies much from earlier accounts, but modes of life 

 had changed. Figures are given of the bark house from several 

 sources. 



To the above may be added something from Charlevoix, though 

 his statements are usually second hand : 



When the floor happens not to be large enough for bedding for all 

 the persons in the family, the young folks have their beds on a kind 

 of loft, five or six feet from the ground, and which runs the whole 

 length of the cabbin; the household furniture and provisions are 

 placed above that on shelfs laid crossways next the roof. There 

 is commonly before the entry, a sort of vestibule or lobby where the 

 youth sleep in summer-time, and which serves as a repository for 

 wood in the winter. The doors are only so many pieces of bark, 

 suspended from the top like the ports of a ship . . . Every 

 village has a pretty large square, but these are seldom regular. 

 Formerly the Iroquois built their cabbins in a better manner than 

 the other nations, and even than themselves do at this day; these 

 were adorned with figures in relievo, but of very coarse workman- 

 ship ; and as almost all their towns have been since burned in differ- 

 ent expeditions, they have not taken the trouble to rebuild them with 

 'their former magnificence. Charlevoix, 2:127-28 



Figure 14 shows Morgan's idea of a modern Seneca bark house 

 of a small size, with a kind of double frame, small poles being placed 

 outside to retain the bark in place. It has not the rounded roof, 

 almost flat above, of the early Iroquois. Figure 18 from Colonel 



