450 THE SENECA NATION 



the cultivated fields of corn, squash and beans which surrounded 

 the towns. 



Corn in a charred state is still to be seen in the refuse heaps 

 of the villages. An ear was taken from a grave at Gandagora. 

 Stores of it were kept in bark receptacles and possibly in under- 

 ground caches. Denonville burned an immense amount of old 

 stored corn in July, 1687, and chopped down all the corn fields 

 which could be found near the towns. He estimated the quan- 

 tity at 400,000 minots, or about one million two hundred thous- 

 and bushels. 



In a brass kettle in a grave at Gandagora were found the 

 seeds of a melon or cucumber. This corroborates French accounts 

 of the melons which they found amongst the Senecas. Father 

 Beschefer sent to France in a box of curiosities "seeds of Cana- 

 dian watermelons which grow without requiring any care like 

 squashes in France." 



Pigs were kept by the Senecas of this period and were men- 

 tioned by de Denonville. 



Practically no tools for cultivating the soil have been found. 

 Iron hoes have been found on the Dann farm. In all probability 

 hoes made of wood were commonly used and these would not 

 be preserved. 



The Senecas eagerly bought from both French and Dutch 

 and later from the English, large quantities of liquor. From the 

 French traders they obtained brandy, from the English traders 

 rum. The missionaries noted an increasing demand for liquor 

 and a consequent increase in drunkenness. In the later years of 

 the missions, it was reported that not only were the men fre- 

 quently drunk, but that the women, who hitherto had not been 

 addicted to drunkenness, were frequently to be seen intoxicated, 

 and that even children were allowed to drink to excess. The 

 occasion of the return of a party from Albany was always the 

 scene of a drunken orgy, and crimes committed by drink-crazed 

 Senecas were condoned because the criminal was intoxicated. 

 The preparations for the departure of a hunting party to the 

 wilderness was similarly a time for a wild debauch. 



There can be no doubt that the Senecas practised canni- 

 balism. The accounts of Galinee and Greenhalgh expressly 

 state that the flesh of tortured prisoners was eaten- Hennepin 

 states that children were given the blood of captives to drink. 



