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CORN AND THE INDIAN Upon the Indian, the first
grower of corn, the cultivation of maize has exerted a more or less striking
influence. Its cultivation in large fields made necessary a banding together
of the individuals of the tribes. It was a sort of community or cooperative
undertaking. With the cultivation of maize, the Indian brought northward the
art of pottery making. Schoolcraft, the historian, states that mound
building is associated with the growing of corn, being made necessary as a
means of defense and easily accomplished because of the communal method of
living.
The development of corn growing among the Indians encouraged the
trading spirit. The corn of the Huron Indians in New York was exchanged for
furs and other commodities. The agricultural Indian tribes of the Missouri
Valley in North Dakota early developed a trade in corn and vegetables with
the white traders and explorers, thus enabling the latter better to carry on
their operations. They also traded with the hunting tribes of the plains,
securing furs, horses, and weapons, thus enabling them better to withstand
invasion from powerful enemies. To the Plains hunters, the securing of corn
meant prevention of famine in seasons when the hunting was poor. The trading
equivalent of corn in the early days indicates its importance in the opinion
of the Indian. Buffalo Bird Woman, a Gros Ventre of the Fort Berthold
Reservation, states that a buffalo robe used to be given in exchange for a
braid of corn containing about 50 ears. Red Bear, an Arikara of the same
reservation, states that the Sioux Indians used to give his people a horse
in exchange for 10 braids of corn.
The presentation of corn as a gift to other tribes and to the
whites was common. It was the sign of friendship. Verendrye, in 1738, was
met near the Mandan village, in what is now North Dakota, by a messenger who
presented him with corn. Lewis and Clark, who wintered near this village,
Maximillian and Verendrye, as well as other white traders and explorers,
probably would have found it impossible to carry on their operations without
the food (principally corn) obtained from the village Indians of the upper
Missouri Valley.
Corn came to us as a gift from the Indians. Doubtless no other word
in the Indian vocabulary is so important to the Indian, since for
generations corn was the main food plant. The Indian's regard for corn is
really a veneration. In the Middle West, the Corn Priest proclaimed the time
to plant and to harvest the fields of corn and from time to time prayed that
the crop might be a productive one. In the Southwest, corn shrines, corn
dances, and numerous corn ceremonies are evidence of the regard of the
Navajo, the Hopi, and the Zuni for their favorite cereal.
A study of the methods of corn culture of the various Indian tribes
is of interest as showing the beginnings of what are now widely adopted
practices. It also affords us an idea of primitive adaptation to conditions. |
