510 THE MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
to. But this mode of procedure would not answer the purposes of this 
inquiry. and hence I am induced to accord them a more respectful con- 
sideration; and I do this the more willingly inasmuch as it agrees with 
my general plan of admitting everything that can be reasonably claimed 
in behalf of the mound-builders, whilst at the same time it affords an 
opportunity of examining into the correctness of the usually received 
opinion “that the Indian considered labor as derogatory, and left it to 
the women.”* 
Before beginning this branch of the inquiry, however, it is necessary 
to come to some understanding as to the meaning to be given to the 
word “labor,” otherwise we shall be at cross-purposes throughout the 
whole of the investigation. Used in its broadest sense, the term includes 
hunting and fishing—occupations which undoubtedly belonged to the 
men, and which, when followed, not asa pastime, but for the purpose of 
gaining a subsistence, involved labor of the very hardest kind.t If to 
this it be added that the Indian warrior was expected to do all the 
fighting, it will be seen that, at a very moderate estimate, he had work 
enough on his hands to keep him reasonably busy. As an evidence of 
the absorbing nature of these occupations, it may be said that, to-day, 
in some countries of Continental Europe in which the state of war is 
the exception and not the rule, as it was among the Indians, the per- 
formance of the one duty of military service alone is considered to be 
a sufficient reason for withdrawing all able-bodied males, within certain 
ages, from every kind of productive labor during the term of such ser- 
vice, even though the whole of it be passed in a time of profound peace. 
Among these nations, and they are some of the most highly civilized 
in Europe, it is no exaggeration to say that labor, using that word in its 
broadest sense, is left to the women far more completely than it ever 
was among the Indians; for the Indian, when not actually engaged in 
warfare, did hunt and fish, and contribute to this extent, at least, to 
the general welfare, whilst his European counterpart is not allowed to 
engage in productive labor of any kind whatsoever during his term of 
military service. But there is another and a narrower sense, in which 
the word is taken to mean simply field-work, or work necessary to the 
growth and production of corn; and it is this signification that is 
es Gee ee oa 1015 Op disle Stoddard, Sketches oF Tousen p. 411: 
Philadelphia, 1812. Golden: Five Nations, vol. 1, p. 13: London, 1747. Foster, Pre- 
historic Races of the United States, p. 300: Chicago, 1873. Charlevoix, Letters, vol. 1 
p. 126: London, 1761. 
t“‘Fatigues of hunting wear out the body and constitution far more than manual 
labor.” Heckewelder, Historical Account of the Indian Nations, p. 146. ‘Their 
manner of rambling through the woods to kill deer is a very laborious exercise, as 
they frequently walk twenty-five or thirty miles through rough and smooth grounds, 
and fasting before they return back to camp loaded.” Adair, History of the Ameri- 
can Indians, p. 402: London, 1775. ‘‘Indian affects not to feel the weight of drag- 
ging a deer 100 to 150 Penne weight through a considerable tract of forest.” Los- 
kiel, Missions in American, p. 107: London, 1794. 
