88 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts mid Letters. 



miles, nor have I ever before beheld such immense fields of 

 corn. All were laid waste for twenty miles on each side of 

 the rivers." In Western New York there were large fields 

 of corn according to Champlain and Kirtland. In Eastern 

 New York, Hudson raentions there being in several places 

 extensive fields of corn. Marquis De Nouville in his cele- 

 brated expedition against the Seneca Indians says: "On 

 the 14th of July, 1685, we marched to one of the large vil- 

 lages of Senecas where we encamped. We remained at the 

 four Seneca villages for ten days. All the time we spent in 

 destroying the corn which, including the old corn that was 

 in cache, which we burned, was in such great abundance that 

 the loss was computed at 400,000 minots or 1,200,000 bushels 

 of Indian corn!" This was in Ontario county, New York. 

 (Aboriginal Monuments in the State of New York, pp. 63 and 

 66.) Newport went up the Powhatan River to visit Pow- 

 hatan in 1607. He states that Powhatan had extensive fields 

 that came down to the river in which he cultivated corn, 

 beans, peas, pumpkins, tobacco and fiax. (Churchill and 

 Holmes, Pickering p. 926.) De Soto speaks frequently of In- 

 dian villages that contained from 150 to 600 dwellings con- 

 structed of wood; sometimes walled in with stone and pro- 

 tected with tall palisades driven into the ground and sur- 

 rounded by extensive fields of maize, beans, peas, pump- 

 kins and other vegetables. In one instance he relates that 

 his army passed through continuous fields of maize for two 

 leagues — not a small field of corn even at the present time. 



De Soto subsisted his army of one thousand men and 

 two hundred and thirteen horses on the Indians' produce. 

 At one place he took corn enough to feed his entire army 

 for five days. He writes, "on Oct. 18 we came to Mobile, a 

 walled city, which we captured and where we rested forty 

 days. Found great stores of bear's fat, oil of walnuts and 

 honey of bees stored in gourds. On March 3d, departed 

 north with maize enough for sixty leagues." 



De Soto's army wandered among and lived on the Indian 

 four and a half j^ears. It certainly took no small amount of 

 corn and other provisions to subsist such an army for so 

 long a period. The Seminoles, Cherokees, Chicasaws, Choc- 



