than the Iroquois. The former cultivated corn in such quantities that they were able to store up a surplus large enough to support them for three or four years, and to exchange for skins with the wild hunting tribes of the north. Corn was, in fact, “the chief of their riches."

From the standpoint of their productive activities, then, the Iroquois may be said to have been upon a transitional stage, corresponding to the nature of their environment. In their hunting

life they resembled the tribes of the northern forest; in so far as they depended for subsistence upon maize culture, their manner of production resembled that of the nations far to the south of them; in the process of evolution from the hunting to the agricultural manner of production, however, they had gone more than half way.

Besides the primary productive activities of which we have been speaking, the Iroquois naturally carried on a certain amount of manufacturing. During the time of comparative leisure toward the end of the winter, many of the raw materials produced during the hunting season were worked up into finished articles. Other materials, procured at various times, were also made into commodities of different sorts; thus, skins were shaped into garments and coverings, wood and bark were cut and prepared for use in various ways, textiles were woven out of bark and hemp fiber, and earthenware vessels were molded. All these processes will be spoken of in detail in a subsequent section.

1 Carr, "Mounds," Sm. Inst. Rep., 1891, p. 514; Jes. Rel. XXIX, 247"The Indian corn which is the chief of their riches."

CHAPTER III.

ORGANIZATION OF PRODUCERS.

Two distinct sorts of production prevailed among the Iroquois. On the one hand, were grouped root grubbing, nut and fruit gathering, trapping, hunting, and fishing; on the other hand, stood agriculture. The former activities ordinarily result in the domestic or village economy, with only an occasional appearance of the men's clan: the latter lead to a sedentary life, entirely governed by the clan principle. What, then, was the effect of these conflicting conditions upon the economic methods of the Iroquois ? In other words, who were the producers; into what classes were they divided; what was the internal organization of each class; and finally, which class, all things considered, occupied the position of greatest importance in the economic life of the Iroquois ? It seems almost unnecessary to say that the whole population, men and women, had a share in production. Neither hunting, fishing, nor agriculture, as it was carried on by the Iroquois, allowed the permanent appropriation of the sources of supply by any individual or group to the detriment of any others who were able and willing to work. Consequently, no one could live exclusively on the product of another's labor, and all must exert themselves to make their own living.

There was, nevertheless, among the Iroquois, as among all primitive peoples, a sexual division of labor-that is to say, certain lines of production were pursued chiefly or entirely by the men; others by the women of the community. The Iroquois men occupied themselves mainly in hunting, fishing, trading, and making war; the women devoted themselves to agriculture, nut, fruit, and root gathering, and housekeeping: the work of manufacturing the means of production and articles of consumption, the men and women divided pretty evenly between them. "The part of the men," says the Jesuit Relation of 1652–3, “is

4

only war, hunting, fishing, trade in various countries and the preparation of the things thereto necessary; as, offensive and defensive weapons, boats, oars and snowshoes."1 The men, furthermore, seem to have made most of the instruments of production; for besides their own implements and weapons, they also made the agricultural tools used by the women.2 It was their duty, also, to mark out and clear the site for the village,3 and to do all the heavy work involved in building the houses and the palisade. In addition, the men made no small part of the other finished articles of consumption usually found in an Iroquois village. It was their business to cut all the larger-sized firewood, to make the large bark barrels and boxes used for keeping stores of food, and the wooden plates and spoons needed in the household. Just how much they helped in agriculture is hard to determine. Mr. Carr says that among the Hurons "the men not only habitually cleared the ground-no small undertaking in a heavily timbered region-but they frequently took part in what is technically known as working the crop, and also aided in the labors of the harvest field. This may not have been a part of their duty, but we have the authority of Charlevoix for saying that when asked to aid in gathering the crop, they did not scorn to lend a helping hand." Among the Iroquois the men did decidedly less agricultural work than among the Hurons; but even here evidence goes to show that they cleared the fields and burnt them over in preparation for the sowing."

La Potherie

La Potherie, III, 18–19—“L'homme fait des instruments de labourage qui sont de bois."

'Lafitau, II, 109-" Ce sont les hommes par toute l'Amèrique qui sont chargés de marquer les champs, et d'en abbatre les gros arbres."

La Potherie, III, 18–19—“ Dans les champs l'homme abat les arbres,

et les ébranle. L'emploi de l'homme dans le bois l'hiver est de faire la cabane."

'Lafitau, II, 109.

5 Boucher, "Histoire Veritable," p. 101.

"Carr, "Mounds," Sm. Inst. Rep., 1891, p. 512.

Cf. Perrot, pp. 106, 181; Jes. Rel., XV, 79; XXXVII, 115.

'La Potherie, III, 18-" C'est aux hommes à brûler les champs . . et ils brûlent les racines des herbes pour semer ensuite."

says that "it is the men's business to burn over the fields." He tells us, too, that they fenced in the gardens and prepared the bundles of corn for drying. In regard to the latter part of this statement, Lafitau supports him.1 Any further help, the men of the Five Nations, always occupied with war and with hunting, do not seem to have offered to their women.2 It should be noted, however, that no matter how much or how little the Iroquois or Huron warrior worked in the field, he always acted merely as an assistant, and not as a director or owner. He seems to have considered agriculture a pursuit quite beneath his dignity: the real sphere of his activities, he regarded as confined, for the most part, to war, hunting, fishing, and trade.

3

On the other hand, the great importance of the Iroquois woman as a producer lay in her activity as an agriculturist. Although the men may have cleared the fields, the women sowed, cultivated, and harvested the crop. Even among the Hurons it was the women upon whom the responsibility fell. "Without wives," says a Huron to Le Jeune, "we are reduced to a wretched life, seeing that it is the women in our country who sow, plant, and cultivate the land, and prepare food for their husbands.”4 The Five Nations depended to an even greater extent upon their women to do the field work. "The women," says La Potherie, sow, harvest and dry the Indian corn A man does not wish to marry any but a good worker."5 Besides their agricul

tural labors, they attended to the gathering of the nuts, fruits and roots, which formed so important a part of the Iroquois food supply; and they contributed, also, to the stock of implements to be used in production, by making traps for catching small ani

1Lafitau, II, 78.

2 Carr, "Mounds," Sm. Inst. Rep., 1891, pp. 516 sq.

Lawson, “Carolina," p. 188; Schoolcraft, "Hist. Ind. Tribes," III, 191; Jes. Rel., XXXVIII, 255.

'Jes. Rel., XIV, 235.

5 La Potherie, III, 19–20; Colden, "Hist. Five Nations" (London, 1747), p. 13-"The Indian women plant the corn and labor it in every respect till it is brought to the table."

'La Potherie, III, 19-20-" Elles vont chercher les fruits dans les campagnes . . elles font des Trapes pour prendre les martes."

mals.2

Furthermore, they manufactured many of the household utensils and furnishings. All the pottery was made by the women,1 as were also the wooden mortars in which corn was crushed.2 Textile industries were largely in their hands, from the gathering of the raw material to its final weaving into mats, baskets, etc. In the making of clothing, also, the women took the chief part. Finally, to quote from the Jesuit Relation, "it is the woman who bears the burden of the house, cuts and carries the fire-wood, does the cooking, and loads herself on the journeys with provisions, etc., for the husband." Bearing the burden of the house, and doing the cooking, was indeed no light task. It involved the making of trips into the winter woods, sometimes for a distance of many miles, to bring back the venison that the men had killed; it meant the laborious smoking and drying of the meat and fish, and the preparation of various things to be used in cooking. Evidently there was among the Iroquois a very distinct division of labor along sexual lines, the men acting chiefly as hunters and warriors, the women as agriculturists. Are we justified, however, in speaking of the men as if they did their work in coöperation with one another, and of the women as if they too formed a united production group?

5

6

Undoubtedly there were occasional instances in Iroquois life in which production seems to have been a purely individual and domestic affair. Snaring deer and other game in summer, when the animals are not gregarious and therefore cannot be hunted by large parties, was naturally done by each man for himself. Even in the regular hunting season, small family parties might wander off in the woods by themselves. Here and there we even find isolated women, each cultivating her own little plot of ground. 1 Sagard, pp. 275-276; Schoolcraft, "Hist. Ind. Tribes," III, 81. 2 La Potherie, III, 19-20.

ន

Jes. Rel., XIII, 265; XXIII, 55; Sagard, pp. 276–277.

Jes. Rel., XXXVIII, 255; Schoolcraft, "Hist. Ind. Tribes," III, 191; Jes. Rel., LXIII, 219.

5 Jes. Rel., LI, 129-"The women do hardly anything else all the winter but go and get the flesh of the deer or of the moose that the men have killed, sometimes fifty leagues away from the village."

6 Jes. Rel., LVII, 267.