34 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



5 Storage of corn. The braided bunches^ of corn^ were hung 

 on poles in the house or in a protected outbuilding. The shelled 

 corn was preserved in bark barrels and might either be natural kernels 

 or charred. When the braided strings of corn were stored in the 

 house the pole hung . from the ridge pole or from the cross beams. 

 Cartier noticed this' method in all probability when he wrote that they 

 preserved it in garrets at the tops of their houses.^ 



Champlain mentions that corn was stored in the tops of the houses 

 and enough cultivated to last three or four years.* 



Lafitau^ described minutely the Iroquois long house and said 

 that it had storerooms for barrels and bark shelves above for storing 

 provisions. Certain spaces below also were reserved for this purpose. 



The description left us by Sagard previously quoted in this work, 

 of the rows of braided corn, is a most vivid one. He says it hung 

 like a tapestry the whole length of the cabin.^ 



The Iroquois harvested corn in greater quantities than they could 

 consume and thus generally had a surplus for trade or emergency. 

 Should one; of the five nations have ill luck with their crops the 

 others would respond to the need, for a consideration or gratuitously, 

 as the case demanded. 



The storage of corn was an important matter. Morgan, however, 

 says 'J " The red races seldom formed magazines of grain to guard 

 against distant wants.'' A little examination of the works of early 

 writers contradicts this statement which Morgan knew did not apply 

 at any rate to the Iroquois. 



Referring to the custom of burying corn and vegetables in pits 

 Lafitau wrote:® 



Didore of Sicile said that the first people of la grande Bretagne, 

 having gathered their corn, kept it in subterranean granaries and it 

 was only taken out in quantites immediately necessary. The Indian 

 women have some sort of an underground granary where also they 

 keep pumpkins (citroulles) and other fruits. It is a hole four to 



1 Cf. Sagard. Voyages des Hurons. Ed. n. 1865. pt i, p. 135 ; or see 

 footnote p. 31 of this work. 

 ^ Ibid. p. 93. 



3 Cartier in Hakluyt's Voyages, 3 :27i. 

 •♦ Champlain. Voyages. Paris 1682. p. 301. 



5 Lafitau. Moeurs des Sauvages, Paris 1724. 2:12 et seq. 



6 Cf. Morgan. League, p. 318. 

 '^ Morgan. League, p.372. 



8 Lafitau, 2:80. 



