500 SEMINOLE INDIANS OF FLORIDA

Moiiiitin a pileof logs, "Billy" tried with itto

summon

"Charlie,"

thinking he might be

somewhere

near.

Meanwhile

I eontiuued

my

search. Inoticed

some

terrapin shellslyingon a platform in oneof the houses, the breastshell pierced with twoholes. "

Wear them

atGreen

Corn

Dance,"said "Billy." I caughtsight of

some

dressedbuckskins lyingona^rafterofa house,

and

anoldfashioned ^rifle,with

powder

horn andshotflask. Ialso

saw

a hoe^; adeepiron pot; a mortar,

made

from aliveoak(?) log,probablyfifteeninchesindiameter

and

twenty-fourin height,

and

besideitapestle,

made

from masticwood,perhapsfourfeet

and a half in length.

A ^bag

^{of corn}

^hung

^{from a rafter,}

^{and near}

^{it a sack of clothing,}

whichI didnot examine.

A

^{skirt, gayly}ornamented,

hung

there also.

There were severalbasketware sieves,evidentlylionie made,

and

vari- ous bottleslying aroundthe place. Ididnot search

among

thethings laid

away on

the raftersunderthe roof.

A

^sow,with several pigs,lay contentedly under the platform of oneof the houses.

And

^near by, in the saw-grass,

was moored

a cypress "dug-out,"about fifteen feet long, pointed at

bow and

stern.

Dwellings throughout the Seminole district are practically uniform

in construction.

With

but slightvariations, the

accompanying

sketch of I-ful-lo-ba-tco's

main

dwelling

shows what

styl.eof architecture pre- vails in the Florida Everglades. ^(PI.

XIX.)

This house is approximately IGby 9 feet in ground measurement,

made

almost altogether, if not wholly, of materials taken from the palmettotree. Itis actually but aplatform elevatedabout threefeet fromthe

ground and

covered with a palmetto thatched roof,the roof being not

more

than ^1:2 feet abovethe groundat the ridgepole,or 7 at the eaves. Eightnprightpalmettologs, uusplit

and

undressed,support theroof.

Many

rafterssustainthe palmetto thatching.

The

platformis

composed

of split palmetto logs lying transversely, flatsidesup,

npon beams

which extendthe length of the building

and

are lashed to the up- rights

by

palmettoropes,thongs, ortrader's ropes. This platform ispe- culiar, in thatit fillsthe interiorof the building likea floor

and

serves tofurnish the family with a dry ^{sitting or lying}

down

i)lace when, as oftenhappens, the whole regionis underwater.

The

thatching of the roof isquite a

work

of art: inside, the regularity

and

compactness of the laying of the leaves display

much

^skill

and

tasteon the part of the builder; outside

—

^with the outer layers there seemsto

have

been^less caretaken thanwith those within

—

themassof leaves ofwhichthe roof

is

composed

is heldin place

and made

firm

by heavy

logs, which,

bound

togetherinpairs, arelaid

upon

^itastridetheridge.

The

coveringis, I

was

informed, water tight

and

durable

and

will resist even a violent wind.

Only

hurricanes can tear^{it off,}

and

these are so infrequent in Southern Florida that

no

attemptis

made

toprovide against them.

The

^{Seminole's house is}open on all sides

and

without rooms. Itis, in fact, only a coveredplatform.

The

singleequivalentfor a

room

in it

MACCAiLEYj

ARCHITECTURE. 501

is tlie spaceabovethejoists whichare extendedacross the biuhling at the h)neredgesof the roof. In this are placed surplus food

and

gen- eral householdeffects out of use from timeto time. Household uten- silsare usuallysuspended from the uprights of the buildingand from pronged^sticksdriven into the ground near

by

atconvenient places.

From

this descriptionthe Seminole's house

may seem

a poorkind of structure to use asadwelling; yet if

we

take into accountthe climate of Southern Florida nothing

more

would

seem

to be ^necessary.

A

shelterfrom thehot sun

and

the frequent rainsand a dryfloor above the

damp

or water covered ground are suflScient for the Florida ^In- dian'sneeds.

I-ful-lo ha-tco's three houses areplacedatthreecornersof an oblong clearing,which is perhaps 40

by

30feet.

At

the fourth corneris the entranceinto thegarden,which ^isin shape anellipse,the longer diam- eter being about25 feet.

The

^threehouses arealike, with the excep- tion that inoneof

them

the elevated platform is only half thesize of those of theothers. Thisdiflerenceseems^to

have

been

made

onaccount of the

camp

fire.

The

fire usuallyburns inthe spacearound whichthe buildings stand.

During

thewetseason,however,itis

moved

intothe shelteredfloorinthe buildinghavingthe half platform.

At

Tus-ko-na's camp,

where

severalfamilies are gathered,I noticedone building with- out theinteriorplatform. This

was

probably the

wet

weather^kitchen.

To

allappearance there isnoprivacyintheseopenhouses.

The

only

means by

which it seemstobesecuredis

by

suspending, over

where

one sleeps, acauoi)y of thin cotton cloth orcalico,

made

square orol)long inshape,andnearly threefeet inheight. Thisservesadoubleuse,as a private

room and

asa protection againstgnats

and

mosquitoes.

But

while I-fal-lo ha-tco's house is a fair

example

of the kind of dwelling in use throughout the tribe, I

may

not pass unnoticed

some

innovationswhich

have

latelybeen

made upon

the generalstyle. There, are, I understand,fiveinclosedhouses,whichwerebuilt

and

are

owned by

Florida Indians.

Four

ofthesearecoveredwithsplitcypressplanks or slabs; oneisconstructed of logs.

Progressive "

Key West

Billy" has gonefurther than any^otherone, excepting perhaps Me-le, in the white man's

ways

of house building.

He

haserected for his family,which consists ofone wife

and

threechil- dren, a cypressboardhouse,

and

furnishedit withdoors

and

windows, partitions, floors,

and

ceiling. In thehouseare one upper

and

oneor

two

lower rooms. Outside, he has a stairway to the upperfloor, and from the upper floora balcony.

He

^{possesses also} an elevated bed, a trunk for his clothing,

and

a strawhat.

Besides the

permanent home

fortheSeminolefamily, thereisalso the lodge which itoccupies

when

for

any

cause it temporarily leaves the house.

The

lodges, or the temporary structures which the Seminole

make when "camping

out," are, of course,

much

simpler and less comfortable than their houses. I

had

the privilege of visiting

two