formed of thick sheets of bark, supported by posts and transverse poles,
and covered with mats and skins. Here, in summer, was the sleeping place
of the inmates, and the space beneath served for storage of their
firewood. The fires were on the ground, in a line down the middle of the
house. Each sufficed for two families, who, in winter, slept closely
packed around them. Above, just under the vaulted roof, were a great
number of poles, like the perches of a hen-roost, and here were suspended
weapons, clothing, skins, and ornaments. Here, too, in harvest time,
the squaws hung the ears of unshelled corn, till the rude abode, through
all its length, seemed decked with a golden tapestry. In general,
however, its only lining was a thick coating of soot from the smoke of
fires with neither draught, chimney, nor window. So pungent was the
smoke, that it produced inflammation of the eyes, attended in old age
with frequent blindness. Another annoyance was the fleas; and a third,
the unbridled and unruly children. Privacy there was none. The house
was one chamber, sometimes lodging more than twenty families.

[ One of the best descriptions of the Huron and Iroquois houses is that
of Sagard, Voyage des Hurons, 118. See also Champlain (1627), 78;
Brebeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635, 31; Vanderdonck, New Netherlands,
in N. Y. Hist. Coll., Second Ser., I. 196; Lafitau, Moeurs des Sauvages,
II. 10. The account given by Cartier of the houses he saw at Montreal
corresponds with the above. He describes them as about fifty yards long.
In this case, there were partial partitions for the several families,
and a sort of loft above. Many of the Iroquois and Huron houses were of
similar construction, the partitions being at the sides only, leaving a
wide passage down the middle of the house. Bartram, Observations on a
Journey from Pennsylvania to Canada, gives a description and plan of the
Iroquois Council-House in 1751, which was of this construction. Indeed,
the Iroquois preserved this mode of building, in all essential points,