Among the Indians of Guiana the men’s work is to hunt, and to cut down the trees when the cassava is to be planted. When the men have felled the trees and cleaned the ground, the women plant the cassava and undertake all the subsequent operations; agriculture is entirely in their hands. They are little, if at all, weaker than the men, and they work all day while the men are often in their hammocks smoking; but there is no cruelty or oppression exercised by the men towards the women.[145] [145] Everard im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_. In Africa we meet with much the same conditions of labour. “The work is done chiefly by the women, this is universal; they hoe the fields, sow the seed, and reap the harvest. To them, too, falls all the labour of house-building, grinding corn, brewing beer, cooking, washing, and caring for almost all the material interests of the community. The men tend the cattle, hunt, go to war; they also spend much time sitting in council over the conduct of affairs.”[146] [146] Macdonald, “East Central African Customs,” _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1890, p. 342. I may note the interesting account of Prof. Haddon[147] of the work of the Western Tribes of the Torres Straits-- [147] _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1890, p. 342. “The men fished, fought, built houses, did a little gardening, made fish-lines, fish-hooks, spears, and other implements, constructed dance-masks and head-dresses, and all the paraphernalia for the various ceremonies and dances. They performed all the rites and dances, and in addition did a good deal of strutting up and down, loafing and ‘yarning.’ The women cooked and prepared the food, did most of the gardening, collected shell-fish, and speared fish on the reefs, made petticoats, baskets and mats.” Similar examples might be almost indefinitely multiplied. Among the Andamanese, while the men go into the jungle to hunt pigs, the women fetch drinking water and firewood, catch shell-fish, make fishing nets and baskets, spin thread, and cook the food ready for the return of the men.[148] The Moki women of America have fifty ways of preparing corn for food. They make all the preparations necessary for these varied dishes, involving the arts of the stonecutter, the carrier, the mason, the miller and the cook.[149] In New Caledonia “girls work in the plantations, boys learn to fight.”[150] [148] Owen, _Transactions of the Ethnological Society_, New Series, Vol. II, p. 36. [149] Mason, _Woman’s Share in Primitive Culture_, p. 143. [150] Turner, _Nineteen Years in Polynesia_, p. 424.