IROQUOIS USES OF MAIZE 23 



of the hungry, lazy or others who loved to prey upon generosity. 

 After the meat was cooked, however, the case was different and 

 she was bound to feed any who came to her door. 



The Iroquois and other Indians have frequently been reproached 

 by writers for allowing or forcing their women to do field labor 

 while the men enjoyed the hunt^ or lazily fished, or perchance went 

 "■ high ho ! " on the war path. It should be remembered, however, 

 that hunting in those raw days was no easy task. It was not sport 

 then as it is now but work that demanded the use of every faculty. 

 Heckewelder^ remarks most aptly that the '' fatigues of hunting wear 

 out the body and constitution more than manual labor." Another 

 writer says, and there is a sense in which his description might apply 

 in these modern times, that ''' their manner of rambling through the 

 woods to kill deer is very laborious exercise, as they frequently walk 

 25 or 30 miles through rough and smooth grounds, and fasting, be- 

 fore they return to camp loaded." ^ 



Heckewelder sums up the case when he says that woman's labor 

 in the fields consumed but six weeks out of th^ year while "the 

 labor of the husband to maintain his family lasts throughout the 

 year." * 



Woman's part in the division of labor was not a hard one nor even 

 a compulsory one. The labor of the fields was a time welcomed by 

 the women then as modern people now welcome an outing. It was 

 the occasion of productive pleasure. As Heckewelder says,^ "... 

 The cornfield is planted by her and the youngsters in a vein of gaiety 

 and frolic. It was done in a few hours and taken care of in the 

 same spirit." 



In the Life of Mary Jemison,^ the white captive of the Genesee, 

 she states: 



Our labor was not severe, and that of one year was exactly similar 

 in almost every respect to that of others, without that endless variety 

 that is to be observed in the common labor of white people. Not- 

 withstanding the Indian women have all the fuel and bread to pro- 

 cure, and the cooking to perform, their task is probably not harder 

 than that of white women who have those articles provided for them ; 

 and their cares certainly not half as numerous, nor as great. In 

 the summer season we planted, tended and harvested our corn, and 



1 Cf. Lawson, p. 188. 



2 Heckewelder. Historical Account of the Indian Nations, p. 146. 



3 Adair. History of the American Indians. Lond. 1755, p. 402. 



4 Heckewelder. Historical Account of the Indian Nations, p. 142. 

 ^ Ibid. p. 142, 



6 Seaver. Life of Mary Jemison, p. 69. 



