Tooker] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 59 



"a collar resting and supported on their forehead" [a tumpline] 

 (S 92-93). 



The Huron had wooden and earthen vessels (JR 17: 49). The 

 women made the pottery, particularly the round pots without handles 

 or feet, in which the food was cooked (S 102). To make the pots, 

 suitable earth was sifted and pulverized very thoroughly and mixed 

 with a little sandstone. A lump of this was shaped into a ball and a 

 hole put in it with a fist. The hole was enlarged and scraped in- 

 side with a little wooden paddle. Then the earthenware pots [a pot 

 or kettle was called anoo (S 106, 260)] were fired in an oven. 

 Although the pots, without water in them, could withstand being set 

 directly on the fire, they could not stand moisture and cold water for 

 any length of time without becoming soft and easily broken. The pots 

 did not have feet or handles and were quite round except for the 

 mouth, which projected a little (S 109) .^ 



The women also prepared the hemp and bark (S 101). In the 

 proper season, the women gathered the plant named ononhasquara 

 from which hemp was made (S 240). Apparently these hemp- 

 gathering parties were large : on one occasion about 40 people gathered 

 hemp for nets (JR 26: 203-205). During the winter, the hemp, 

 beaten and twisted by the women and girls who rolled it on their 

 thighs iuto twine, was made into snares and fishing nets by the men 

 (S 98, 101, 240 ; C 136, 166-167) . 



During the winter, the women made the mats of reeds (and of maize 

 leaves) that were used both to hang in. the doors and to sit on. They 

 dressed and softened the skins of beaver, moose, and other animals and 

 made cloaks and coverings of them, which they painted with various 

 colors. They also made the leather game bag or tobacco pouch and 

 decorated it with red, black, white, and blue porcupine quills. They 

 made the sashes, collars, and bracelets worn by both men and women. 

 They also made the baskets, both of reeds and of birchbark, to hold 

 beans, corn, peas, meat, fish, and other foods, and the bark bowls used 

 for drinking and eating (S 102) .^° 



In their leisure time they played games, went to dances and feasts, 

 and gossiped. They were not admitted to many of the men's feasts, 

 however, nor to any of their councils (S 101) . 



In addition to limiting, fishing, warring, and trading, the men made 

 the houses and canoes ( C 137 ; S 101) .^^ 



** Iroquois pottery making quickly lapsed after the introduction of metal kettles. Huron 

 pottery is known, of course, from the archeological remains. 



**Barbeau (1912: 385) also says that women dressed and tanned the hides, made 

 clothes, baskets, bark containers, and other articles for household use. See Park6r (1910 

 b: 82) for mention of a cornhusk lounging mat and Morgan (1850: 74; 1901(2) : 23-24) 

 and Waugh (1916 : 64) for descriptions of bark bowls. 



*i In later times, Iroquoian men also hunted, fished, went to war and to trade, and built 

 houses and canoes (Barbeau 1912 : 385 ; Hale 1883 : 65 ; Jackson 1830 b : 21 ; Parker 

 1910 b : 22-23). They also, as Fenton remarks, "made fishnets, and all the gear that they 

 used except burden straps and clothing" (see Quain 1961 : 536). 



