IROQUOIS USES OF MAIZE 53 



Within recent years this work of making and decorating these 

 kitchen utensils has been the work of the men. No doubt they 

 thought that a fine paddle would furnish a proper incentive for the 

 making of a good soup. 



Great dipping spoons, Ato'gwassho^wa'ne'.^ For dipping hulled 

 corn soup, or in fact any other soup from a kettle, a large dipping 

 spoon was generally used when there was one at hand. In form it 

 was like the common eating spoon used by the Iroquois but very 

 much larger, the bowl being about a foot in diameter. At present 

 these large spoons are very rare. One specimen that the writer 

 obtained for the American Museum of Natural History is said to 

 have been used for years in council meetings on the Genesee Reser- 

 vation, especially at the Green Corn Festivals. There are several 

 large dipping spoons in the State Museum, but they are now not 

 to be found in use on the New York Indian reservations. The- speci- 

 men shown in the illustration, figure i, plate 17, has a shorter handle 

 than most. 



The great dipping spoons were used for apportioning out the con- 

 tents of the great feast cauldrons. The activity of collectors and the 

 greater convenience of civilized articles has brought the tin dipper 

 into greater prominence. 



Deer jaw scraper, Yigassho^'gaya"to'.-. This implement is a 

 very rare one. It is simply one of the rami of a deer's lower jaw and 



Fig. 9 Deer jaw scraper for green corn. Specimen is about 8 inches long] ^'^ 



is complete without trimming or finishing in any Wiay. The jaw was 

 held by the anterior toothless portion and with the sharp back teeth 

 the green corn was scraped from the cob. The name of the imple- 

 ment, Yigassho"'gaya"to', is derived from ogo^'sa, green corn, and 

 yigowe"'to', it scrapes. 



The Seneca housewife when she uses the jaw scraper, with char- 

 acteristic humor, says, " I am letting the deer chew the corn first 

 for me." 



1 Wadogwa'tserhowane' in Mohawk. 



2 Ye^nos'stoga^yatha' in Mohawk. 



