802 IROQUOIAN COSMOLOGY [eth. ann. 43 



had finished their meal, the old woman said to them, "It is now time, 

 perhaps, that you should go out to hunt game which our human 

 guests can eat, for, you know that they do not eat the same kind of 

 things that you do." 



So the hunters started out of the lodge to seek for game for their 

 guests. As soon as the men were gone the old woman put her hands 

 to the headrest of her couch and took therefrom a single grain of 

 corn and a single squash seed. Then she went to the end of the fire- 

 place and there she prepared in the ashes two small hills or beds, in 

 one of which she placed the grain of corn and in the other the squash 

 seed, and carefully covered them with rich dirt. 



In a very short while the visitors looked and were greatlj^ surprised 

 to see that the seeds had sprouted and had shot out of the ground 

 small plantlets, which were growing rapidly. Not very long after 

 this they saw the cornstalk put forth ears of corn and the squash 

 vine squashes, so in the short space of a few hours these plants had 

 supplied the old woman with ears of corn and squashes. These she 

 prepared and cooked. 



Then the men who were out hunting returned to the lodge, bring- 

 ing with them the fine carcass of a deer which they had killed. At 

 once they set to work to skin it and to dress it. As soon as they had 

 finished this task the old woman set the venison, the corn, and the 

 squashes over the fire to cook. She set her kettles over the fire on 

 stone supports and promoted the cooking by putting hot stones into 

 them. 



When these things were cooked she placed them on fine bowls of 

 bark and set these bowls before the visitors and bade them eat heartily. 

 So De'hae'"hyo'we'"s and his friends ate theli' fill. 



This now came to pass. The aged woman now, verily, said, "It is 

 now time, you will agree, I think, for you to go again to hunt." 

 This remark she made to the male members of her family. 



Then the visitors saw something very strange. They saw the old 

 woman take from under her couch a large cjuantity of corn husks. 

 She then went to what appeared to be an added lodge, or separate 

 room, and there pushed aside the door flap. In that room the visitors 

 saw what seemed to them a lake, which was round in figure. The 

 old woman then making a circuit of the lake, heaped the corn husks 

 around its edges. 



When this task was finished she set the corn husks on fire and they 

 quickly burst into flames and the flames took up all the water of the 

 lake. Then she said to the men of her household, " Now, I have again 

 completed the preparations. Moreover, do you start now. And 

 this shall also take place. You must be careful. In the course of 

 your excursion you must not injure any person." These words she 

 addressed to the men of her lodge. They then departed on their 

 usual trip over the land. 



