58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 190 



SUBSISTENCE 



DIVISION OF LABOR 



The subsistence base of the Huron was a mixed one induding 

 agriculture, hunting, gathering, and fishing (S 103). Women did all 

 the agricultural work; the men hunted, fished, and traded (JR 15: 

 155; C 137). The women tilled the ground; planted and harvested 

 the corn ; stored it ; prepared it for eating, pounding it and roasting 

 it in the ashes (JR 14: 235; C 136, 156; S 101). They pounded the 

 meal their husbands carried on summer trading expeditions (C 166; 

 S 101-102). They attended to other household matters. They were 

 expected to attend their husbands, carrying the baggage (C 136).^^ 



Tlie women also collected the necessary wood (C 136, 156; S 101). 

 All the women helped each other collect this wood during 2 days 

 in the month of March or April. In this way, each household was 

 supplied with what it needed in a few days (C 156; S 94).^^ If a 

 girl married at the time of year when it was difficult to gather wood, 

 each woman and girl brought a load of wood from her own supply 

 to the newly wed girl ( C 156-157 ; S 123) . They used only a very good 

 wood and preferred to go a distance to obtain it, rather than use 

 green wood and wood that made smoke. For these reasons, their fires 

 were clear and were made with a small amount of wood. If they 

 could not find trees that were quite dry, they felled those with dry 

 branches and broke these into splinters and cut them to equal length. 

 They did not make up fagots of twigs, nor use the trunks of the 

 largest trees. Tree trunks were left on the gi'ound to rot because, as 

 they had no saw to cut them in pieces, they could only break them up 

 if they were dry and rotten (S 94) . [The Huron had stone hatchets 

 (JR 17: 49) and traded for metal ones (see above, "Trade and 

 War")]. Wood was carried tied up on their backs and attached to 



^ Iroquois women also did the agricultural work, although the men cleared the land, 

 removing the trees by felling or girdling them, burning what material they could, and 

 uprooting the partly burned and rotted tree trunks (Parker 1910 b : 21-22 ; Waugh 

 1916 : 7). Women cleared rubbish off the fields, planted the corn, beans, and squashes, and 

 harvested them, often helping each other in these tasks. They also, of course, prepared the 

 meals and did other household tasks (Beauchamp 1900 : SI ; Hale 1883 : 65 ; Jackson 18.30 a : 

 12. 29, 32 ; 1830 b : 17 ; Seaver 1824 : 184-185 ; Shimony 1961 a : 154 n.). 



In the years following the American Revolution, the subsistence base of the Iroquois 

 shifted to more intensive agricultural efforts and to plow agriculture, a shift brought about 

 by the fact that hunting and trading were no longer as profitable as they had been and 

 war was no longer feasible. This shift necessitated a change In the division of labor, the 

 men taking up agricultural work (the various changes in the division of labor and in the 

 settlement pattern during this period are well documented in Jackson 1830 a). In more 

 recent times, wage work has become important to the Iroquois. 



^ The Iroquois had a similar custom. As Mary Jemison said, "Each squaw cuts her 

 own wood; but It is all brought to the house under the direction of the overseer [an old 

 woman appointed for the task] — each bringing one back load" (Seaver 1824: 185; see 

 also Beauchamp 1900: 81; .Tackson 1830 b: 18). Waugh (1916: 54) remarks that wood 

 is gathered very often by women and the older men, who sometimes use a pack basket or 

 sled to transport it. Jackson (1830 b: 18) says thnt Iroquois women gathered wood 

 In the summer or early fall. 



