INTRODUCTION. 5 
only during ceremonies, especially the ceremony of the medicine-men. 
In the center of the lodge is an excavation for the fireplace. The smoke 
makes its exit through a circular opening about eight inches in diameter 
on the eastern side of the roof, near the top. The top of the lodge is 
continued to a height of about three feet above the point where the 
upright cedar poles meet, by means of tightly wrapped bundles of grass, 
while from the base of this peak project four poles about three feet in 
length, one pointing east, another south, another west, and another 
north. | : 
The four projecting poles outside stand for the four world quar- 
ters or gods, while the upward peak is symbolic of Man-Never-Known- 
on-Earth (Kinnekasus), the Creator in Wichita mythology. It is 
said that a door is placed on the east side that the sun may look into 
the lodge as it rises, and that the west door is so placed that the sun 
may look in as it sets, while through the small circular opening over- 
head the sun may look in at noon. The south door is still retained that 
the god of the south wind may enter. The fireplace is considered sacred, 
for here offerings are made, the food is cooked, medicines heated, etc. 
The furnishings inside the lodge are not unlike those found in the 
Pawnee lodge. The beds consist of mattresses made of slender willow 
rods and coverings of buffalo hide. Over the bed and hanging down in 
front, is a long curtain of buffalo hide, which can be raised or lowered 
at will; this is often painted with war scenes. In the same place, be- 
tween the west opening and the fireplace, stands the corn mill, consisting 
of the trunk of a tree about a foot and a half in diameter and four feet 
long, implanted in the ground. The pestles are long, with a heavy end. 
Usually two or more women engage in grinding corn at once. 
Formerly, pottery was extensively manufactured by the Wichita, 
but its use was long since abandoned. Beautifully made wooden ves- 
sels of large size and buffalo horn spoons are still occasionally found. 
A small, flat granite rock was used for crushing seeds and medicines, 
and a small wood hand mortar was used for a similar purpose. The 
parfleshe, similar to that used by other Plains tribes, is found among 
the Wichita, together with long rawhide bags used as food receptacles. 
For dressing hides they used a flesher similar in shape to that used by 
the other Plains tribes; the handle, however, was of wood and beau- 
tifully fashioned. At one side of the lodge, in well-to-do families, was 
a large summer arbor, built like the grass-lodge, but of elongated shape, 
and with open sides to a height of about four feet. These arbors were 
often of great size, and were provided with a platform raised a foot 
