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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Figure 23 is a section of the typical early Iroquois cabin. 

 aa: Side posts in rows and arched over at the top, united at b, where 

 they are naturally thinner. With rare exceptions eastern aboriginal 

 roofs had this curve, being nearly flat above. The huts of travel 

 were different, cc: Posts each side of the passageway, usually 

 carried to the roof. At intersections all were bound together. 

 dd: The first floor of joists and bark for sitting or sleeping. The 

 hearths were in the midst of the ground floor, ee: The second shelf, 

 used for children when needed and for sitting or storing at other 

 times. This is the endicha or andichon of the Mohawks and 

 Hurons, meaning an elevated place. In playing a Huron game we 

 are told: 



Each party ranges itself one or the other side of the cabin, filling 

 it from top to bottom, under and above the andichons, which are 

 of bark and made like a bed canopy or roof, corresponding to that 

 below fastened to the ground, on which they sleep at night. They 

 place themselves on the poles that lie and are suspended along the 

 length of the cabin. Relation, 1639 



Upper shelf reached by a ladder, useful for spectators and storage, 

 marked /. This shelf or any other is called weii-ne-sa'-ka by the 

 Onondagas. The frame was covered with bark and the door usually 

 hung from above. 



Morgan's communal theory of the Iroquois house was carried too 

 far. Greenhalgh mentioned the long house, but gave an average 

 of two or three warriors to a cabin. Probably half had not more 

 than one. The houses of chiefs were usually larger than the rest, 

 as hospitality was one of their official duties. When CammerhofT 

 came to Onondaga in 1750, he said, " At last we reached the house 

 of Ganassateco. There is a large pole before it with an English 

 flag on it. The house is very large and roomy, and well built." 

 A large room was given them. This was not the council house. 

 At Geneseo, he said, "The old chief came to us and wanted to 

 converse. He said that his house was the largest in the town, and 

 the meeting place for the council." 



When Father Le Moyne first visited Onondaga in 1654, he lodged 

 in the cabin " of the first captain of the country," a spacious building. 

 Next year Chaumonot spoke of this chief's house as " a great cabin 



