The History of Cayuga County 1789-1879 page 28
Indian Dwellings

the colonies of England were but a weak and broken line along the shores of the Atlantic; and when at last the great conflict came, England and liberty would have been confronted, not by a depleted antagonist, still feeble from the exhaustion of a starved and persecuted infancy, but by an athletic champion of the principles of Richelieu and Loyola.

" Liberty may thank the Iroquois, that by their insensate fury the plans of their adversary were brought to nought and a peril and a woe averted from her future. They ruined the trade which was the life-blood of New France ; they stopped the current of her arteries and made all her early years a misery and a terror. Not that they changed her destinies. The contest on this continent between liberty and absolutism was never doubtful ; but the triumph of the one would have been dearly bought, and the downfall of the other incomplete. Populations formed in the habits and ideas of a feudal monarchy and controlled by a hierarchy profoundly hostile to freedom of thought, would have remained a hindrance and a stumbling block in the way of that majestic experiment of which America is the field.

"The Jesuits saw their hopes struck down and their faith, though not shaken, was sorely tried. The providence of God seemed in their eyes dark and inexplicable ; but, from the standpoint of liberty, that providence is as clear as the sun at noon. Meanwhile let those who have prevailed, yield new honor to the defeated. Their virtues shine amidst tile rubbish of error, like diamonds and gold in the gravel of the torrent."*

CHAPTER IV.
NATIVE INHABITANTS, (CONCLUDED.)

INDIAN HABITS AND USAGES - INDIAN DWELLINGS--DETAILS OF THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND USES - INDIAN TOWNS- HOW BUILT AND FORTIFIED --SOCIAL USAGES -- LAW OF MARRIAGE-LICENSE--EXPERIMENTAL MARRIAGES -- FAMILY DISCIPLINE-EMPLOYMENTS AT HOME --GAMBLING UNIVERSAL-DANCES AND FEASTS --FIVE STATED ANNUAL FESTIVALS DESCRIBED --THE WAR DANCE -MEDICAL FEASTS-DREAMS-WIZARDS AND WITCHES -BURIALS - IROQUOIS SUPERIORITY.

We shall close the part of our work devoted to " Our Native Inhabitants," with some of the more striking usages which prevailed among them when first visited by the whites. These usages will throw much light in a concrete form, upon their character and capability, and show them to have been " as patient and politic as they were ferocious."

INDIAN DWELLINGS.-These, though rude, were generally built with considerable labor and care. They usually were about thirty feet square. The sides were formed of thick saplings set in two parallel rows, the tops bent inward toward each other to form the roof, the upper ends fastened together, and the sides bound together by cross poles or guides. In some cases separate poles formed the rafters. An open space about one foot wide extended the whole length of the ridge, securing at once the double purpose of window and chimney. Transverse poles were bound to the uprights and over the roof, the whole covered with bark overlapping like shingles and held in place by smaller poles bound to the general frame. At each end was an enclosed space for the storage of supplies of Indian corn, dried flesh, fish, etc., which was kept in bark vessels. Along each side ran wide scaffolds, some four feet from the floor, which, when covered with skins formed the summer sleeping places, while beneath was stored their firewood gathered and kept dry for use. In some cases these platforms were in sections of twelve to fourteen feet, with spaces for storage between them. Overhead poles were suspended for various uses, to smoke and dry their fish and flesh, hang their weapons, skins, clothing, Indian corn, etc. In cold weather all the inmates slept on the floor, huddled about the fires, which were built upon the ground floor, up and down the centre of the house.

The interiors of all these houses were thickly covered with smoke and soot, arising from the large fires maintained for warmth or for cooking. The effect of living in such dense and acrid smoke was to produce weakness of the eyes, and in the aged often blindness.**

The foregoing was the general style of the Iroquois and Huron houses. But many of them

* Parkman's Jesuits.

* " He who entered on a winter night, beheld a strange spectacle ; the vista of fires lighting the smoky concave ; the bronzed groups encircling each, cooking, eating, gambling, or amusing themselves with idle badinage ; shrivelled squaws, hideous with three score years of hardship ; grisly old warriors scarred with war clubs young aspirants whose honors were yet to be won ; damsels, gay with ochre and wampum; restless children pell mell with restless dogs each wild feature in vivid light." -- Parkman.

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