There is great diversity among the various tribes of North American
Indians in respect to manners and customs, dress, and modes of living.
The inhabitants of the sultry regions of Florida and Texas, of course
pay less attention to the texture of their garments, and the comfort of
their dwellings, than those who reside in the more northern regions; and
other diversities of habit are produced by differences of climate and
situation. Still there is a certain degree of simplicity inherent in
savage life which pervades all the tribes:—it is the simplicity which is
the necessary consequence of poverty and ignorance.
The habitations of the Indians receive much less of their attention
than the attire, or, at least, embellishment of their persons. Our
countrymen, by common consent, give to them no better appellation than
cabins. The bark of trees is their chief material both for houses and
boats: they peel it off with considerable skill, sometimes stripping a
whole tree in one piece. This coating, spread not unskilfully over a
framework of poles, and fastened to them by strips of tough rind, forms
their dwellings. The shape, according to the owner’s fancy, resembles a
tub, a cone, or a cart-shed, the mixture of which gives to the village
a confused and chaotic appearance. Light and heat are admitted only
by an aperture at the top, through which also the smoke escapes, after
filling all the upper part of the mansion. Little inconvenience is felt
from this by the natives, who, within doors, never think of any position
except sitting or lying; but to Europeans, who must occasionally stand
or walk, the abode is thereby rendered almost intolerable; and matters
become much worse when rain or snow makes it necessary to close the roof.
These structures are sometimes upward of a hundred feet long; but they
are then the residence of two or three separate families. Four of them
occasionally compose a quadrangle, each open on the inside, and having
a common fire in the centre. Formerly the Iroquois had houses somewhat
superior, adorned even with some rude carving; but these were burned down
by the French in successive expeditions, and were never after rebuilt in
the same style. The Canadians in this respect seem to be surpassed by
the Choctaws, Chickasaws, and other tribes in the south, and even by the
Saukies in the west, whose mansions Carver describes as constructed of
well-hewn planks, neatly jointed, and each capable of containing several
families.
In their expeditions, whether for war or hunting, which often lead them
through desolate forests, several hundred miles from home, the Indians
have the art of rearing, with great expedition, temporary abodes. On
arriving at their evening station, a few poles, meeting at the top in
the form of a cone, are in half an hour covered with bark; and having
spread a few pine-branches within by way of mattress, they sleep as
soundly as on beds of down. Like the Esquimaux, they also understand how
to convert snow into a material for building; and find it in the depth
of winter the warmest and most comfortable. A few twigs platted together
secure the roof. Our own countrymen, in their several campaigns, have, in
cases of necessity, used with advantage this species of bivouac.
The furniture in these native huts is exceedingly simple. The chief
articles are two or three pots or kettles for boiling their food, with a
few wooden plates and spoons. The former, in the absence of metal, with
which the inhabitants were unacquainted, were made of coarse earthenware
that resisted the fire; and sometimes of a species of soft stone, which
could be excavated with their rude hatchets. Nay, in some cases, their
kitchen utensils were of wood, and the water made to boil by throwing in
heated stones. Since their acquaintance with Europeans, the superiority
of iron vessels has been found so decided, that they are now universally
preferred. The great kettle or caldron, employed only on high festivals
associated with religion, hunting, or war, attracts even a kind of
veneration; and potent chiefs have assumed its name as their title of
honour.