92 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



guarded by three inseparable spirit sisters and that the plants would 

 not thrive apart in consequence. 



Crook neck squash onya'sa' 



Hubbard squash odaint'dowane' 



Scalloped squash onya'sao"'we" 



Winter squash gai'dowane' 



Hard pumpkin nyo'sowane' 



Squash foods 



Baked squash (wandenyo"sohduk). Squishes were baked in 

 ashes and the whole squash eaten, the shell and seeds included. 



Boiled squash (Ganyu*'s5). Squashes were split and cleaned 

 and boiled in water salted to taste. 



Boiled squash flower (ojaint'duk).^ The infertile flowers of 

 the squash were boiled with meat and the sauce used as a flavoring 

 for meats and vegetables. 



Melons 

 Cucumber onios'kwae' 



Musk melons wa'yais 



Water melons o nyut'sutgus 



Other vine foods 

 " Husk tomatoes " dji'wewa'yas 



Melons were planted in patches in the woods cleared by burning, 

 the leaf mold furnishing a good m'edium for growth. Those who 

 planted melons in cleared woodland tracts set up poles upon which 

 were painted the clan totems and the name signs of the owners. 

 The totem sign signified that while, according to the communistic 

 laws, the patch belonged, nominally, to the clan, and that any clans- 

 man might take the fruit if necessary, yet by virtue of the fact that 

 the garden was cleared, planted and cultivated by the individual 

 whose name was indicated, the individual claim and right should be 

 recognized as actually prior, though not nominally. 



Before the frost the melon vines that still had unripe fruit were 

 often dug up without disturbing the roots, and replanted in a basket 

 of sand to be taken to the lodge and kept under the beds or in small 

 cellars. During the winter months, so several informants said, the 

 melons would mature and were reserved for the sick. 



1 Bartram in his Observations, page i6, writes of " one kettle full of 

 young squashes and their flowers boiled in water and a little meal mixed." 



