32 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the " bee " would be enlivened by a marching dance, and for this 

 emergency the men brought their water drums^ and horn rattles and 

 cleared their throats for singing. 



The men smoked incessantly of native tobacco mixed with dried 

 sumac leaves and red willow bark. Some of the older women, if 

 not all, claimed the same privilege. The writer has attended some 

 of these '* bees " and though he never saw a pipe in a young woman's 

 mouth,- he sometimes thought he saw a quid of store tobacco tucked 

 away in a bloomy brown cheek, no doubt used as a toothache pre- 

 ventive. 



The " bees " were often conducted out of doors under the white 

 moonlight. A roaring fire of sumac brush or logs tempered the crisp 

 air of the night but left it sufficiently invigorating to keep up spirit 

 and keep the workers active. There was nothing unhealthful in these 

 night carnivals where the smell of the corn plant, the breath of the 

 pines blown by the autumn wind, the smoke of the fragrant burning 

 wood and the pure merriment of the workers and the knowledge of 

 good work furnished the sole exhilaration. 



Husked ears may be placed in a corncrib, ona"'o' iada'kwa, or 

 arranged for roasting. When the husk is stripped back for braid- 

 ing the ears are stood up in rows, against the wall or log with the 

 husks on the floor or ground. When the worker arose for rest the 

 others covered the husks with corn leaves and loose husks to keep 

 them moist. The work of braiding was called waest"shani' (com. 

 gen.), or waste^'shani (fern. gen.). 



Sick and injured members of the " mutual aid company " were 

 always assisted by the company even in the matter of preparing the 

 soil, planting and harvesting. This help was considered as a right 

 and never as a charity. 



In the work of tillage plows or digging sticks are called yetoga- 

 tot'tha; hoes are called gau'Mjisha'. The bone husking pin is called 

 ye"nowiya"tha. 



Husking pins are shaped much like the ancient bone and antler 

 awls but generally have a groove cut about a third of their length 

 about which is fastened a loop, through which it is designed that the 

 middle finger be thrust. The point of the husking pin is held against 

 the thumb. In husking the hand is held slightly open, the ear grasped 



1 Cf. Adair, p. 407. 



^^/- Jesuit Relations, 67:141. 



