Privacy there was none. Along the sides of the cabin,
about four feet from the ground, extended raised platforms,
on or under which, according to the season or the
inclination of the individual, the inmates slept.

The Huron nation was divided into four clans--the Bear,
the Rock, the Cord, the Deer--with several small dependent
groups. There was government of a sort, republican in
form. They had their deliberative assemblies, both village
and tribal. The village councils met almost daily, but
the tribal assembly--a sort of states-general--was summoned
only when some weighty measure demanded consideration.
Decisions arrived at in the assemblies were proclaimed
by the chiefs.

Of religion as it is understood by Christians the Hurons
had none, nothing but superstitions, very like those of
other barbarous peoples. To everything in nature they
gave a god; trees, lakes, streams, the celestial bodies,
the blue expanse, they deified with okies or spirits.
Among the chief objects of Huron worship were the moon
and the sun. The oki of the moon had the care of souls
and the power to cut off life; the oki of the sun presided
over the living and sustained all created things. The
great vault of heaven with its myriad stars inspired them
with awe; it was the abode of the spirit of spirits, the
Master of Life. Aronhia was the name they gave this
supreme oki. This would show that they had a vague
conception of God. To Aronhia they offered sacrifices,
to Aronhia they appealed in time of danger, and when