Native villages and village sites east of the Mississippi / by David I. Bushnell, Jr.

  • Bushnell, David I., Jr. (David Ives), 1875-1941.
Date:
1919
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Native villages and village sites east of the Mississippi / by David I. Bushnell, Jr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    on Champlain’s map wigwams and gardens are indicated at many different places about the shore of the bay. And it was said: Their dwellings are separate from each other, according to the land which each occupies. They are large, of a circular shape, and covered with thatch made of grasses or the husks of Indian corn ” (Champlain, (2), II, pp. 120-130.) Some 10 years after the preceding, the Jesuit, Pere Biard, was among the native tribes of New France and prepared notes on the customs of the people. He wrote principally of the Micmac and Malecite, of the eastern part of the present State of Maine and the adjacent provinces, and when describing their habitations said: Arrived at a certain placn, the first thing they do is to build a fire and arrange their camp, which they have finished in an hour or two; often in half an hour. The wom,en go to the woods and bring back some poles which are stuck into the ground in a circle around the fire, and at the top are interlaced, in the form of a pyramid, so that they come together directly over the fire, for there is the chimney. Upon the poles they throw some skins, matting or bark. At the foot of the poles, under the skins, they put their baggage. All the space around the fire is strewn with leaves of the fir tree, so they will not feel the dampness of the ground; over these leaves are often thrown some mats, or sealskins as soft as velvet; upon this they stretch themselves around the fire with their heads resting upon their baggage; And, what no one would believe, they are very warm in there around that little fire, even in the greatest rigors of the Winter. They do not camp except near some good water, and in an attractive location. In Summer the shape of their houses is changed; for then they are broad and long, that they may have more air; then they nearly always cover them with bark, or mats made of tender reeds, finer and more delicate than ours made of straw, and so skillfully woven, that when they are hung up the water runs along their surface without penetrating themd' (Biard, (l),p. 77.) And here follows an interesting account of their ways and means of gathering food, with different fish and game during the changing seasons of the year. The dwellings encoimtered by the Pilgrims on Cape Cod, when they reached that shore early in November, 1620, ‘^were made with long young Sapling Trees, bended and both ends stuck into the ground: they were made round, like unto an Arbour . . . The houses were double matted, for as they were matted without, so were they within, with new & fairer matts. In the houses we found wooden Boules, Trayes & Dishes, Earthen Pots, Handbaskets made of Crab shells wrought together . . (Mourt, (1), p. 18.)