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.