[Fig. 29.] [Fig. 30.] [Fig. 31.] [Fig. 32.] [Fig. 33.] [Fig. 34.] [Fig. 34.½.] [Fig. 35.]
Designs adapted from Indian models.
San Carlos Shack
The San Carlos Apache Indians build a dome-shaped hut by making a framework of small saplings bent in arches as the boys did in Kentucky when the writer was himself a lad, and as shown in [Fig. 30.] The ends of the pole are sunk into the ground in the form of a circle, while their tips are bent over and bound together thus forming a series of loops which overlap each other and give stability and support to the principal loops which run from the ground to the top of the dome. The Indians thatch these huts with bear-grass arranged in overlapping rows and held in place with strings (see [Fig. 69]) made of yucca leaves ([Fig. 31]).
Chippewa Shack
Much farther north I have seen the Chippewa Indians build a framework in practically the same manner as the San Carlos Apache, but the Chippewas covered their frame with layers of birch bark held in place by ropes stretched over it as shown in [Fig. 32.] The door to their huts consisted of a blanket portière.
In the same locality to-day it would be difficult if not impossible to procure such large strips of birch bark; but the dome-shaped frame is a good one to be used in many localities and, like all other frames, it can be covered with the material at hand. It may be shingled with smaller pieces of bark, covered with brush and thatched with browse or with hay, straw, palmetto leaves, palm leaves, or rushes, or it may be plastered over with mud and made an adobe hut.
