been
wet. The moccasins had a stiff sole of buffalo rawhide; and in the
bottom of this sole were cut one or two holes, in order that the
water might run out if a man had to wade through a stream.

The homes of these Indians were lodges--tents made of tanned buffalo
skin supported on a cone of long, straight, slender poles. At the
top where the poles crossed was an opening for the smoke from the
fire built in the centre of the circular lodge floor, while about
the fire, and close under the lodge covering, were the beds where
the people slept or ate during the day.

These homes were warm and comfortable. The border of the lodge
covering did not come down quite to the ground, but inside the lodge
poles, and tied to them, was a long wide strip of tanned buffalo
skin four or five feet high, and long enough to reach around the
inside of the lodge, almost from one side of the door to the other.
This strip of tanned skin--made up of several pieces--was so wide
that one edge rested on the floor, and reached inward under the beds
and seats. Through the open space between the lodge covering and the
lodge lining, fresh air kept passing into the lodge close to the
ground and up over the lining and down toward the centre of the
lodge, and so furnished draught for the fire. The lodge lining kept
this cold air from blowing directly on the occupants of the lodge
who sat around the fire. Often the lodge lining was finely painted
with pictures of animals, people, and figures of mysterious beings
of which one might not speak.

The seats and beds in this home were covered with soft tanned
buffalo robes, and at the head and foot of each bed was an inclined
back-rest of straight willow twigs, strung together on long lines of
sinew and supported in an inclined position by a tripod. Buffalo
robes often hung over these back-rests. In the spaces between the
back-rests, which though they came together at the top were
separated at the ground, were kept many of the possessions of the
family; the pipe, sacks of tobacco, of paint, "possible
sacks"--parfleches for clothing or food, and many smaller articles.

The outside of the lodge was often painted with mysterious figures
which the lodge owner believed to have power to bring good luck to
him and to his family. Sometimes these figures represented
animals--buffalo, deer, and elk--or rocks, mountains, trees, or the
puff-balls that grow on the prairie. Sometimes a procession of
ravens, marching on