They were formed by long, slender hickory saplings set in the ground, in a straight line of two rows, as far asunder as they intended the width to be, and the rows continuing as far as they intended the length to be. The poles were then bent toward each other in the form of an arch and secured together, giving the appearance of a garden arbor. Split poles were then lathed up the sides and the roof, and over this was bark, lapped on the ends and edges, which was kept in its place by withes to the lathings. A hole was left in the roof for smoke to escape, and a single door of entrance was provided. Barely exceeding twenty feet in width, these houses were sometimes a hundred and eighty yards long.
" In those places," says Van der Donck, fct they crowd a surprising number of persons, and it is surprising to see them out in open day." From sixteen to eighteen families occupied one house, according to its size. Of the manufacture of metals they had no knowledge. All their weapons, implements, and utensils were fashioned from stone, wood, shells, bone, and other animal substances, and clay. Their most noteworthy manufactured relics are probably their specimens of pottery. Mr. Alexander C. Chenoweth draws some interesting deductions as to the processes of pottery manufacture prevalent in early times from his examinations of specimens that he has unearthed. He says : They could fashion earthen jars with tasteful decorations, manufacture cloth, and twist fibers into cords.
They had several methods of molding their pottery. One was to make a mold of basket work and press the clay inside. In baking, the basket work was burned off, leaving its imprint to be plainly seen on the outside of the jar.