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"A Large Hole, Twenty Feet Wide And Thirty In Length, Was Dug
To The Depth Of Six Feet; The Sides
Of which were lined with split
pieces of timber rising just above the surface of the ground,
and smoothed to
The same width by burning, or by being shaved
with small iron axes. These timbers were secured in their erect
position by a pole stretched along the side of the building near
the eaves, and supported on a strong post fixed at each corner.
The timbers at the gable ends rose gradually higher, the middle pieces
being the broadest. At the top of these was a sort of semicircle,
made to receive a ridge-pole the whole length of the house, propped by
an additional post in the middle, and forming the top of the roof.
From this ridge-pole to the eaves of the house were placed a number
of small poles or rafters, secured at each end by fibres of the cedar.
On these poles, which were connected by small transverse bars of wood,
was laid a covering of white cedar, or arbor vitae, kept on by
strands of cedar fibres; but a small space along the whole length
of the ridge-pole was left uncovered, for the purpose of light,
and of permitting the smoke to pass out. The roof, thus formed,
had a descent about equal to that common among us, and near the eaves
it was perforated with a number of small holes, made, most probably,
for the discharge of arrows in case of an attack.
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