IROQUOIS USES OF MAIZE 37 



Wright, the missionary, in 1876 said that the beans, squashes, pota- 

 toes and tobacco plants sprang also from the grave. Some of the 

 writer's informants declare that the squash grew from the grave 

 earth directly over the Earth-Mother's navel, the beans from her 

 feet and the tobacco plant from her head. Thus it is said of the 

 latter plant, " It soothes the mind and sobers thought." 



From the manuscript of Mrs Wright's interview with Johnson, the 

 following is quoted : 



Johnson says that a long time ago squashes were found growing 

 wild. He says that he has seen them and that they were quite un- 

 palatable, but the Indians used to boil and eat them. He says that 

 in their ancient wars with the southern Indians they brought back 

 squashes that were sweet and palatable and beans which grow wild 

 in the south, calico colored, and which were very good, and he thinks 

 the white folks have never used them. Also the o-yah-gwa-oweh 

 (oyen'kwaon'we", tobacco) they brought from the south where it 

 grows wild, also various kinds of corn, black, red and squaw corn, 

 they brought from the prairie country south where they found it 

 growing wild. All these things they found on their war expeditions 

 and brought them here and planted them and thus they abound here, 

 but he does not know where they first found the potato. 



The mythology of the Iroquois is full of allusions to corn, its 

 cultivation and uses. The story of its origin from^ the breasts of 

 the mother of the two spirits, previously referred to, is generally 

 accepted as the proper version, but there are other stories which, 

 however, are regarded simply as gaga", or amusement tales, rather 

 than religious explanations. One story relates that an orphaned 

 nephew who had been adopted by an eccentric uncle with strange 

 habits thought that he would discover how his uncle obtained food. 

 He pretended to be asleep and looking through a peephole in his skin 

 coverlet found that the old man had a strange lot of nuts fastened 

 on a stick (a corncob). Cautiously removing a nut (kernel) he 

 placed it in a small pot of water and making some mysterious passes 

 over it as he crooned a mysterious song, he caused the vessel to ex- 

 pand to a great size and fill with a delicious food. The next day 

 the old man went on a journey to a distant gorge and the young man 

 determined to try the experiment which he had seen his uncle per- 

 form. He shelled all the corn from the cob, threw it in the pot, 

 sang and motioned until the pot swelled up so large that it filled the 

 house and burst the walls. A great mound was formed and when 

 the old man returned he cried out in dismay, " You have killed me/"' 

 and gave as his reason that he was the custodian of the corn which 



