Canadian Forest rij Journal, March, 1917 



993 



in a grove of mai)le trees, and she 

 returned to the self-same spot each 

 season. wShe had provided herself 

 with a number of sap pans and 

 buckets, made of four-cornered sheets 

 of birch-bark, with Iheir edges turned 

 up and their corners folded in. They 

 were tightly stitched into shape with 

 threads of basswood, or with strings 

 obtained by splitting the fine rootlets 

 of the cedar. An Indian woman 

 might have from twelve to fifteen 

 hundred of the birch-bark vessels. 

 Wooden sap-troughs were also at 

 hand, made from time to time in the 

 summer season. 



When the crows appeared, every- 

 one was on the lookout. As soon as 



the necessary camp outfit and sugar- 

 making utensils could be gathered 

 together each family moved to its own 

 sugar grove. There wigwams were 

 put up for sleeping quarters, and a 

 wooden hut, with a roof of bark or 

 mats, to shelter the sugar-makers. 



Sometimes we hear the Indians 

 called lazy, but there is a Menomini 

 story of the maple and the sap, which 

 shows how well the red man knows 

 that work is good for the soul. 



The Storij of the Sap 



The first maker of maple-sugar — 

 so runs this story — was Nokomis, the 

 earth, grandmother of Manabush, 



THE MAPLE SUGAR SEASON IN QUEBEC 

 Upper picture illustrates the^gathering of the sap and the use of pipe lines. Lower left hand picture, 

 tapping a fresh tree; lower right-hand, a 'sugiiring off party, which from earliest pioneer times has been 

 a highly popular festivity, an invitation to which few men can resist. 



