Jesuit Descriptions of the Mi’kmaq Peoples

[...] The women go to the woods and bring back some poles which are stuck into the ground in a circle around the fire, and at the top are interlaced, in the form of a pyramid, so that they come together directly over the fire, for there is no chimney. Upon the poles they throw some skins, matting or bark. At the foot of the poles, under the skins, they put their baggage...In Summer the shape of their houses is changed; for then they are broad and long, that they may have more air; then they nearly always cover them with bark, or mats made of tender reeds, finer and more delicate than ours made of straw, and so skilfully woven, that when they are hung up the water runs along their surface without penetrating them [...]

Source: Unknown, "The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travel and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791, vol. 3" (Cleveland: Burrows Brothers, 1896), 77.

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