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wigwam |
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wigwam (wĭg`wäm), dwelling found among the Algonquian of the Eastern woodlands area of the United States. The wigwam was usually conical, arborlike, or domed. Some were small, accommodating a single family; others were large communal dwellings. They were covered with squares of bark, with reed mats, or with thatch. Sometimes the word is incorrectly extended to almost all Native North American dwellings including the earth lodge and sometimes even the tepee and the wickiup. wickiupalso called wigwamindigenous North American dwelling characteristic of peoples living in forested regions. It is constructed of saplings driven into the ground in a circle or oval and tied together at the top, then covered with mats of woven rushes or sewn bark. A typical wickiup was some 15–20 feet (4.5–6 metres) in diameter. By the early 21st century, wickiup had become the preferred term among many Native Americans because wigwam was believed to play into a stereotype. wigwam 1. any dwelling of the North American Indians, esp one made of bark, rushes, or skins spread over or enclosed by a set of arched poles lashed together 2. a similar structure for children How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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When it was beginning to come on dark we poked our heads out of the cottonwood thicket, and looked up and down and across; nothing in sight; so Jim took up some of the top planks of the raft and built a snug wigwam to get under in blazing weather and rainy, and to keep the things dry. So he left them, and took his wife and three children, and they journeyed on until they found a spot near to a clear stream, where they began to cut down trees, and to make ready their wigwam. In the Indian gazettes a wigwam was the symbol of a day's march, and a row of them cut or painted on the bark of a tree signified that so many times they had camped. |
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