with hoes. They hoe the grass and weeds
clean from the old cornhills and plant in the
same place, and some time after the corn comes
up they hoe all the surface of the field over so that
it looks very neat, with the corn they plant
beans, squashes, and potatoes, also pumpkins.

Since we came here the women have
worked very hard: they found all the corn for hominy
and bread, sift and prepare it; cut and split all
their wood and and carry it home on their backs, nearly
a quarter of a mile; make all their fires, and do
all their kitchen work; plant and take care of,
and gather their corn and beans: and as far as
I can learn (says J.S.

) do all other out door work,
except building the houses and splitting the
rails that the corn land is fenced with.

It has been a busy time since we came here,
the women have risen early, gone out to the corn
field with their hoes, some of them old gray headed
women, and some children (girls) of 8, 10, or 12 years of
age and kept pretty close to their work.

One old woman who has had her feet so frozen
that she goes altogether on her knees, I have
seen carrying in wood and making the fire,
bring up water from the river, and go out to
the cornfield, and return in the evening with
the laborers, while the men and boys are spend-
ing their time in idleness, or shooting with their