Volume 1

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MANDAN ARCHITECTURE. 339
the thickness of a man's leg, and 12 to 15 feet long, slanting
enough to drain off the rain, and laid so close to each
other as to touch. The upper ends of the rafters are supported
upon stout pieces of squared timber, which last are
supported by four thick posts about five feet in circumference,
15 feet out of the ground and 15 feet asunder, forming
a square. Over these squared timbers others of equal
size are laid, crossing them at right angles, leaving an opening
about four feet square. This serves for chimney and
windows, as there are no other openings to admit light,
and when it rains even this hole is covered over with a
canoe to prevent the rain from injuring their gammine {sic']
and earthen pots. The whole roof is well thatched with the
small willows in which the Missourie abounds, laid on to
the thickness of six inches or more, fastened together in a
very compact manner and well secured to the rafters. Over
the whole is spread about one foot of earth, and around the
wall, to the height of three or four feet, is commonly laid
up earth to the thickness of three feet, for security in case
of an attack and to keep out the cold. The door is five feet
broad and six high, with a covered way or porch on the
outside of the same height as the door, seven feet broad
and ten in length. The doors are made of raw buffalo hide
stretched upon a frame and suspended by cords from one of
the beams which form the circle. Every night the door is
barricaded with a long piece of timber supported by two
stout posts set in the ground in the inside of the hut, one
on each side of the door.
On entering the hut, the first thing that strikes the view
is a kind of triangular apartment, always on the left hand
and fronting the fire, leaving an open space on the right
this is to hold firewood in winter. This partition is constructed
of square planks about 12 feet high, well calked
to keep off the air from the door. Between this partition
and the fire is commonly a distance of about five feet, which
the master of the hut occupies during the day, seated on a
mat made of small willows of equal size, fastened together