33 (p. 165).--The subject of agriculture among the Indians is exhaustively treated in Carr's "Mounds of the Mississippi Valley," in _Smithsonian Report_ (Washington, 1891), pp. 507-533. His general conclusion is that corn was "cultivated in greater or less quantities by all the tribes living east of the Mississippi and south of the great lakes and the St. Lawrence,"--indeed, far more extensively than is generally supposed; and that "the Indian looked upon it as a staple article of food, both winter and summer; that he cultivated it in large fields, and understood and appreciated the benefits arising from the use of fertilizers." Beans, squashes, and pumpkins were also staple crops. In regard to the labor of women, Carr says: "The Iroquois or Six Nations are the only people among whom, so far as I know, it cannot be shown that the warriors did take some part either in clearing the ground or in cultivating the crop; and we find that even among them the work was not left exclusively to the women, but that it was shared by the children and the old men, as well as the slaves, of whom they seem to have had a goodly number. *** This statement ['that the field-work was _not_ left entirely to the women'], as to the actual condition of a large majority of the tribes living east of the Mississippi and south of the St. Lawrence, is believed to be true; yet it is not denied that there were many instances in which this labor was, practically, left to the women, owing to the fact that the men were away from home, hunting or fighting. This fact was, unfortunately, of frequent recurrence; but, as it was the result of an accidental and not of a permanent condition of affairs, it would hardly be fair to ascribe it to the existence of any custom, or to any belief in the derogatory character of the work."--Cf. Rochemonteix (_Jésuites_, vol. i., p. 97, _note_). 34 (p. 167).--A word derived, according to Littré, from the Basque _orenac_, meaning "deer;" elsewhere written _orignac_, _orignas_, and _orignat_; by modern writers, _orignal_. The "Canadian elk" (_orignac_ being used interchangeably with _élan_, the elk of Northern Europe), or moose (the latter an Indian name), is _Alces Americanus_, the largest of the _Cervus_ family. The males are said to attain a weight of 1,100 or 1,200 pounds, and a height of five feet at the shoulder. See also _Champlain's Voyages_ (Prince Soc.), vol. i., p. 265.