Hariot says that the houses of the Virginia Indians—
Are made of small poles made fast at the tops in rounde forme after the maner as is vsed in many arbories in our gardens of England, in most townes couered with barkes, and in some with artificiall mattes made of long rushes; from the tops of the houses downe to the ground.[17]
| [BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY] | THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. I |
Plate I. PRODUCTS OF THE TEXTILE ART.
a, Openwork fish baskets of Virginia Indians; b, manner of weaving; c, basket strainer; d, quiver of rushes; e, mat of rushes.
It would appear from a study of the numerous illustrations of houses given by this author that the mats so often referred to were identical in construction with those still in use among the tribes of the upper Mississippi and the far west. The rushes are laid close together side by side and bound together at long intervals by cords intertwined across. In e, plate I, is reproduced a small portion of a mat from Hariot's engraving of the dead-house of the Virginia Indians, which shows this method of construction.
The modern use of mats of this class in house construction is known by an example which I have seen represented in a small photograph, taken about the year 1868, and representing a Chippewa village, situated somewhere in the upper Missouri valley, probably not far from Sioux City, Iowa.
Fig. 2.—Use of mats in an Indian council (after Lafitau).