Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/94

] an extensive ruin of a stone pueblo. Learning that the chief had declared that these fields had been cultivated within the memory of living men, the writer sent for him, but learned on questioning that neither he nor any other Pima knew aught about them. All the fields, canals, and cleared roads over the lava hills that appear in plate, c were the work of the Hohokam.

The work of clearing the fields, planting, and irrigating devolved upon the men. The women harvested the crops, carrying the products in their kiâhâs. The men thrashed the wheat—with horses after those animals were introduced. Prior to that time, and even now when the crop is small, the women beat out the grain with straight sticks. As it was thrashed, the women winnowed it in baskets and piled it on a cotton cloth, the corners of which were tied together, forming a sort of sack that was thrown upon a horse and taken by the men to the storehouse or brought in sacks on their heads by the women (fig. 6). Pumpkins and all crops except wheat were carried by the women in their kiâhâs. Considering the fact that the Pimas were constantly harassed by the Apaches, so that the men could not safely lay aside their bows during any waking moment, this distribution of labor was not discreditable to them.