DEPOSIT OF AGRICULTURAL FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 407 



the persimmon, honey-li>cust, Chickasaw phim, mulhoiTV, hlack ■\valniit, ami 

 sliell-barkeil hickory, wliich, lie thinks, " were cuUivated by the ancients on 

 ac«()nnt of tlicir fruit, as bcin<^ wholesome ami nourishing food."* 



The Floridians, it is stated, employed at De Soto's time prisoners of war for 

 workinjj^ the fields, and ia order to prevent their eseajjo they partly maimed them 

 by cutting the tendons of the leg above the heel or the instep. t It appears, 

 however, that among most semi-agricultural tribes of North America iield labor 

 ■was imposed upon the women ; while the men, when not engaged in hunting or 

 ■war expeditions, abandoned themselves to that listless repose in wliich barba- 

 rians generally love to indulge. 



*Bartram's Travels. Dublin, J793, p. 38. 



\Uarcilasso de la I'ega, Couquete de la Floride, Vol. I, p. 2SG, and Vol. I, p. 339. 



