Tooker] 



ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 23 



carried by one man on his head or shoulders (JK 15: 151, 161; S 

 101).-^ If they wished, the Indians could, under favorable condi- 

 tions, travel 25 or 30 leagues a day (S 101). 



The Huron also traveled by land and would walk 10, 20, 30, and 

 40 leagues without carrying provisions and taking only tobacco and 

 steel and bow and quiver (S 98-99). Little reed mats, on which to 

 sleep, were customarily carried with them (S 62). If they had no 

 water and were thirsty, they sucked it from trees, particularly the 

 beech tree, which had a sweet and pleasant liquid when in sap 

 (S 98-99),. 



In winter, a kind of sledge (arocha) was made of long boards of 

 white cedar on which were put the loads (S 93) to transport them 

 over the ice (C 93). Snowshoes, called agnonra (S 84), strung with 

 animal gut (S 98), were used after the snow had fallen (S 83-84, 93). 

 The Neutral using these ran after deer to catch them (S 227).^° 



The shelter made by those traveling by canoe, and arranged to 

 slope over its occupants, consisted of two pieces of birchbark laid 

 against four small poles stuck into the ground (S 57). A site was 

 selected on the bank of a river or other x^lace where dry wood could 

 be found. While one man collected the wood, another put up the 

 shelter and found the stick on which to hang the kettle over the fire. 

 A third sought two flat stones with which to crush the corn. After 

 the crushing, which was done over a skin spread on the ground, the 

 corn was put into the kettle to boil. When boiled "quite clear," this 

 sagamite was served in bowls of birchbark that each man carried with 

 him together with a large spoon. Sagamite was eaten twice a day, 

 after pitching camp in the evening and before leaving in the morning. 

 If two groups occupied the same shelter, each boiled its own corn and 

 then all ate together, using the contents of both kettles. [Comment- 

 ing on the hardships of this journey Sagard remarked that "the bowls 

 could hardly have a pleasant smell, for when they were under the 

 necessity of making water in their canoe they usually used the bowl 

 for the purpose ; but on land they used to stoop down in some place 

 apart with a decency and modesty that were anything but savage" 

 (S 59-60).] Sometimes the corn was cooked uncrushed, but it was 



2B During this period tlie Huron and Algonquin made their canoes of birchbark and the 

 Iroquois made theirs of the bark of the red or slippery elm or of butternut hickory. The 

 Iroquois were forced to use these inferior materials, as birch trees did not grow in their 

 country. Later, however, they did make them out of birchbark. They also used dugout 

 canoes. (Beauchamp 1905: 139-146; Fenton and Dodge 1949; Morgan 1852: 105-106; 

 1901(2) : 25-27.) 



so It is possible that the Iroquois did not use the sled ; at least, Beauchamp (1905 : 163) 

 found no mention of the sled in New York State. The Iroquois did, however, use snowshoes 

 (Beauchamp 1905,: 161-162; Jackson 1830 b: 22; Morgan 1850: 79-80; 1901(2) : 34-35). 



Jackson (1830 b : 22) also mentions that an Iroquois hunter without a weapon would 

 sometimes catch a deer by running it down while wearing snowshoes. 



