IROQUOIS USES OF MAIZE 63 



:he lazy could avail themselives^of the stores of the more fortunate 

 md the more energetic. Neither begging nor laziness were encour- 

 iged, however, and the slightest indication of an imposition was 

 •ebuked in a stern manner. 



Heckewelder explains this law of hospitality in a forcible manner. 

 ' They think that he (the Great Spirit), made the earth and all that 

 t contains," he writes,^ " that when he stocked the country that 

 le gave them with plenty of game, it was not for the benefit of the 

 'ew, but for all." This idea that the Creator gave of his bounty 

 'or the good of the entire body of people was one of the funda- 

 nental laws of the Iroquois. As air and rain were common so was 

 jverything else to be. Heckewelder expresses this when he con- 

 inues, " Everything was given in common to the sons of men. 

 A^hatever liveth on land, whatsoever groweth out of the earth, and 

 ill that is in the rivers and waters flowing through the same, was 

 ^ven jointly to all, and every one is entitled to his share. From 

 his principle hospitality flows as from its source. With them it 

 vas not a virtue but a strict duty ; hence they are never in search of 

 ixcuses to avoid giving, but freely supply their neighbors' wants 

 "rom the stock prepared" for their own use. They give and are 

 lospitable to all without exception and will always share with each 

 )ther and often with the stranger to the last morsel. They would 

 •ather lie down themselves on an empty stomach than have it laid to 

 heir charge that they had neglected their duty 'by not satisfying the 

 vants of the stranger, the sick or the needy. The stranger has a 

 :laim to their hospitality, partly on account of his being at a distance 

 rom his family and friends, and partly because he has honored them 

 vith his visit and ought to leave them with a good impression on 

 lis mind; the sick and the poor because they have a right to be 

 lelped out of the common stock, for if the meat they are served 

 vith was taken from the woods it was common to all before the 

 lunter took it ; if corn and vegetables, it had grown out of the com- 

 non ground, yet not by the power of men but by that of the Great 

 spirit." 



When distinguished guests came into a community a great feast 

 vas prepared for them. Various French, Dutch and English 

 vriters who visited the Iroquois during the colonial period have 

 vritten of these feasts and some of them describe the feasts in 

 I vivid way. Sometimes the food was unpalatable to European 



1 Heckewelder. Indian Nations, p. loi. 



