t it was always necessary to preserve a
sitting or lying posture while under their shelter. There were no
windows; a large hole in the center of the roof allowed the smoke to
escape; and a sort of curtain of birch bark occupied the place of the
door. These dwellings are sometimes 100 feet long, when they accommodate
several families. Four cabans generally form a quadrangle, each open to
the inside, with the fire in the center common to all. The numerous and
powerful tribes formerly inhabiting Canada and its borders usually dwelt
in huts of a very rude description. In their expeditions, both for war
and the chase, the Indians erect temporary cabans in a remarkably short
space of time. A few poles, raised in the shape of a cone, and covered
with birch bark, form the roof, and the tops of pine branches make a
fragrant bed. In winter the snow is cleared out of the place where the
caban is to be raised, and shaped into walls, which form a shelter from
the wind. The permanent dwellings were usually grouped in villages,
surrounded with double and even triple rows of palisades, interlaced
with branches of trees, so as to form a compact barrier, and offering a
considerable difficulty to an assailing foe.

The furniture in these huts was very scanty. The use of metal being
unknown, the pots or vessels for boiling their food were made of coarse
earthen-ware, or of soft stone hollowed out with a hatchet. In some
cases they were made of wood, and the water was boiled by throwing in a
number of heated stones.

The Indian displays some skill in the construction of canoes, and they
are admirably adapted for his purpose. They are usually made of the bark
of a single tree, strengthened by ribs of strong wood. These light and
buoyant skiffs float safely on stormy or rapid waters under the
practiced guidance of the Indian, and can with ease be borne on his
shoulder from one river or lake to another. Canoes formed out of the
trunk of a large tree are also sometimes used, especially in winter, for
the purpose of crossing rivers when there is floating ice, their great
strength rendering them capable of enduring the collision with the
floating masses, to which they are liable.

Even among the rudest Indian tribes a regular union between man and wife
was universal, although not attended with ceremonials. The marriage
contract is a matter of purchase. The man buys his wife of her parents;
not with money, for its value is unknown, but with some