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out of order; should follow Ayer_MS_689_VL04_FL002_00009_o2 copy.jpg 8 Page 9

The women wore ni legings, but their mocasins were made same like half boots, extending halfway up their leg. These had small bells fastened to them about their ankles.  Finger rings were common to both men & women.  Anciently it was common for a whole town to enclose a large field, in which each family had its particular share, separated by some known marker.  In this all the town, men & women worked together, first in one part and then in another, according to the direction of one whom they had selected to manage the business, and in this respect, they called their leader.  But at other times, when not employed at the common field, the men did but little except hum.  strikeout  The women got their wood for cooking, unless as they might be assisted by very old men.  They also carried all the water for family use, pounded the corn, prepared the food for the family, performed all the washing up &c.  But though custom attached the heaviest part of the labour to the women, yet they were cheerful and voluntary in performing it.  What others may have discovered among the Indians I cannot tell, but though I have been about nineteen years among the Cherokees strikeout: yet I have perceived nothing of the slavish, servile fear, on the part of women, so often spoken of.  The women had various methods of baking their bread.  Sometimes they made it in thin cakes, & put it on the hot clay or stone hearth & covered it with hot coals and ashes & sometime put a loaf on the hot hearth & covered it with a shallow earthen pan & then put on coals; sometimes they set the shallow pan on coals and baked the cakes on it.  Again, they mixed their bread in a shallow basket, round, and perhaps 18 inches to two feet in diameter.  The dough was spread over the bottom of this basket, as thick as the loaf was desired made smooth on top, and covered with the large leaves of the cucumber tree.  The basket was then turned bottom upwards on the hot hearth, and taken off, leaving the loaf lying on the leaves.  This was then covered with the same kind of leaves and afterwards with ashes & coals.  In this manner they made loaves as large as they pleased.  They made great use of parched corn meal.  They parched their corn by putting it in a pot with sifted ashes, stirring it constantly while over the fire.  When sufficiently parched, they sifted out the ashes, leaving the pure corn.  See page 7.