66o 



Handbook of Nature-Siiidy 



Seneca Indian women husking corn for braiding. 



Photo by Arthur C. Parker. From Bull'?tin 144 of New York State Museum, "Iroquois uses 



of Maize and other Food Plants" by Arthur C. Parker. 



THE MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN 



Teacher's Story 

 "Haiti Ha-wen-ni-yu! Listen with, open ears to the words of thy people. Continue 

 to listen. We thank our mother earth wliich sustains us. We thank the winds which have 

 banished disease. We thank He-no for rain. We tliank the moon and stars which give us 

 light wtien the sun has gone to rest. We thank the sun for warmth and light by day. Keep 

 us from evil ways that the sun may never hide his face from us for shame and leave us in 

 darkness. We thank thee that thou liast made our corn to grow. Thou art our creator and 

 our good ruler, thou canst do no evil. Everything thou doest is for our happiness." 



HUS prayed the Iroquois Indians when 



the com had ripened on the hills and 



valleys of New York State long before 



it was a state, and even before Columbus had 



turned his ambitious prows westward in quest of 



the Indies. Had he found the Indies with their 



wealth of fabrics and spices, he would have 



found there nothing so valuable to the world as 



has proved this golden treasure of ripened com. 



The origin of Indian com, or maize, is shrouded 



in mystery. There is a plant which grows on the 



~' table-lands of Mexico, which is pos.sibly the 



original species; but so long had maize been cultivated by the American 



Indians that it was thoroughly domesticated when America was first 



