English: Title: Bulletin

Identifier: bulletin3011907smit Year: 1901 (1900s) Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Subjects: Ethnology Publisher: Washington : G. P. O. Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Text Appearing Before Image: 410 EAGLE HILLS ASSINIBOIN EARTH LODGE [ B. A. E. eagles. Near the present Hopi villages there are shrines in -which offerings of eagle eggs carved from wood are placed during the winter solstice for the increase of eagles. Among the Zufii, feathers shed by their captive eagles have special sig- nificance, though the feathers are also regularly plucked and form a staple arti- cle of trade. The mythology of almost every tribe is replete with eagle beings, and the wide- spread thunderbird myth relates in some cases to the eagle. In Hopi myth the Man-eagle is a sky-beingwholaysasidehis plumage after flights in which he spreads devastation, and the hero who slays him is carried to the house in the sky by eagles of several species, each one in its turn bearing him higher. The Man- eagle myth is widelj^ diffused, most triljes regarding this being as a manifestation of either heljiful or maleficent power. See Fewkes, Property Rights in Eagles among the Hopi, Am. Anthrop., ii, 690- 707,1900; Hoff- man in 14th Rep. B. A. E., 1896; Mooney (1) ibid., (2) in 19th Rep. B. A. E., 1900. Eagle Hills Assiuiboin. A band of Assini- boi n of 35 lodges living in 1808 between Bear hills and South Saskatch-

Text Appearing After Image: PAWNEE EARTH LODGE ewan r., Assiniboia, Canada.—Henry- Thompson Jour., Cones ed., ii, 523, 1897. Earth lodge. A dwelling partly under- ground, circular in form, from 30 to 60 ft in diameter, with walls about 6 ft high, on which rested a dome-shaped roof with an opening in the center to afford light within and to permit the egress of smoke. The entrance was a projecting passage- way from 6 to 14 ft long. The method of construction was first to draw a circle on the ground and excavate the earth within it from 2 to 4 ft deep. About 1^ ft within the circle were set crotched posts some 8 or 10 ft apart, on which were laid beams. Outside these posts were set others, one end of them braced against the bottom of the bank of earth at the periphery of the circle, and the other end leaning against the beams, forminga close stockade, an opening being left at the e. side for the entrance. Mid- way between the center of the excavation and the stockade were planted 4, 6, or 8 tall crotched posts, forming an inner cir- cle. In the crotches were laid heavy beams to support the I'oof. The bark was stripped from all the posts and beams. The roof was formed of long, slender, tapering tree trunks, stripped of bark. The large ends were tied with strings of the inner bark of the elm to the beams at the top of the stockade, and the middle to those resting in the crotches of the inner circle of posts. The slender ends were cut so as to form the circular opening in the center of the roof, 2 or 3 ft in diameter. Outside this framework l)ranches of willow were placed close to- gether across the posts of the wall and the beams of the roof, and bound tightly to each pole, beginning at the ground and continuing upward to the central open- ing. Over the willow branches a heavy thatch of coarse dried grass was laid, tied in bundles and arranged so that it would shed water. Over the thatch was placed a thick coating of sods, cut so that they could be lap- ped, and laid like shingles. The wall and roof were after- w^ard carefully tamped with earth and made impervious to rain. The long entranceway was built in the same manner as the lodge, and thatched and sodded at the same time. The grass of the sod continued to grow, and wild flowers brightened the walls and roof of the dwelling. The blackened circle around the central open- ing in the roof, produced by the heat and smoke, was the only suggestion that the verdant mound was a human abode. Within, the floor was made hard by a series of tampings, in which both water and fire were used. The fireplace was circular in shape and slightly excavated. A curtain of skin hung at the opening from the passageway into the lodge. The outer door was covered with a skin that was stiffened by sticks at the top and bottom, which was turned to one side to give entrance to the passageway. The couches of the occupants were placed around the wall, and frequently were in- closed by reed mats which could be raised or lowered. More than one family some- times occupied a lodge, and in such case the families took different sides. The back part, opposite the entrance, was re-

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