516 THE MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
was standiug in the fields, 400,000 minots or 12,00,000 bushels of grain 
were destoyed.* This amount is doubtlessly much exaggerated, but 
that it was very large is evident from the statements of Tontit and La 
Hontan,¢ both of whom took part in the expedition. According to the 
former, they were for seven days engaged in cutting up the corn belong- 
ing to the four villages. The latter author puts the time consumed in 
this work at five or six days, and by way of showing the uselessness of 
such destruction, he makes one of their Indian allies remark rather cyn- 
ically that “the Tsonnontonans did not matter the spoiling of the corn 
for that the other Iroquois nations were able to supply them.” These 
extracts will give some idea of the extent to which corn was grown 
among these tribes,§ and will justify the use of much stronger language 
than Mr. Morgan employs when he declares that ‘‘it can not be affirmed 
with correctness that the Indian subsisted principally by the chase.” || 
As to the manner of preserving or storing this grain for winter use, 
we are not leftin the dark. In addition to the garrets or tops of their 
houses and ecribs,{] they were in the habit of “ burying their surplus corn 
and also their charred green corn in caches, in which the former would 
preserve uninjured through the year, and the latter for a much longer 
period. They excavated a pit, made a bark bottom and sides, and hav- 
ing deposited the corn within it, a bark roof, water-tight, was con- 
structed over it, and the whole covered up with earth.” ** 
In regard to the field-work, the weight of evidence inclines to the con- 
clusion that, ever since the arrival of the whites, it has been in the 
hands of the women and slaves, and that the warriors took no part in it, 
neither working the crop, nor clearing the land, as their congeners in 
* Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, vol. 11, p. 355: Paris, 1744, Doe, Hist. 
of New York, first series, p. 238: Albany, 1849. 
tNarrative in Historical Collections of Louisiana, part 1, p. 70. 
tla Hontan, Voyages, vol. 1, p. 77: London, 1703. 
§ Iroquois ‘‘reap ordinarily in one harvest as much as serves ’em for two years :” 
Hennepin, 4A new Discovery of a Vast Country in America, vol. 1, p. 18: London, 
1698. ‘‘Cultivated 100 acres:” Ibid., p. 19. ‘Corn plenty among different tribes 
of the Iroquois:” Greenhalgh (A. D. 1667), in Doc. Hist. of New York, vol. 1, p. 15. 
‘“Corn has ever been the staple article of consumption among the Iroquois. They 
cultivated this plant, and also the bean and the squash, before the formation of the 
league. - - - Raised sufficient quantities of each to supply their utmost wants:” 
Morgan, League of the Iroquois, p. 199: Rochester, 1851. ‘‘ Village field consisting 
oftentimes of several hundred acres of cultivated land:” Ibid., p, 314. 
|| League of the Iroquois, p. 199; Rochester, 1851, 
q Lafitau, vol. 1, p. 80: Paris, 1724. 
** League of the Iroquois, p. 319. Mr. Morgan adds that ‘‘ pits of charred corn are 
still found near their ancient settlements. Cured venison and other meats were 
buried in the same manner, except that the bark repository was lined with deer 
skins.” As to caches, see also Hennepin, J. c., vol. 1, p. 18: London, 1698. Lafitau, 
Moeurs des Sauvages, vol. 11, p. 79: Paris, 1724. Loskiel, Mission in America, p. 68: 
London, 1794. 
