32 



ABORIGINAL POTTERY OK EASTERTST UNITED STATES [eth.ann.20 



ten neai'ly two hundred year.s ai>o. Lafitau, ^vhose observations Ijegan 

 about the yenv ITUO, yives an iUustration in wliieh the whole jwocess 

 is indicated — the tapping of the trees, the collecting of sap, the boil- 

 ing- of the water, and the shaping of the soft sugar into cakes, the 

 latter work being conducted by an Indian woman who in the engrav- 

 ing is represented as a handsome Caucasian girl. It will be seen from 

 the following i^xtract that this author nialvcs the definite statement that 

 the French learned the art from the Indians — no particular nation 

 being mentioned, however. He writes as follows: 



In the month of March, when the sun has acquireil a Httle force and the trees 

 commence to contain sap, they make transverse incisirms with tlie liatchet on the 



Flu, 3 — Xati\e uiaple-sugurinaliiug. Kei>roiluce<l Irnm Lalitau. 



trimks of these trees, from which there flows iuabmuiancc a h(iuid which they re- 

 ceive in large vessels of bark; they then boil this liquid over the fire, which consumes 

 all the phlegm and causes the remainder to thicken to the consistency of siruj) or 

 even of a loaf of sugar, according to the degree and amount of heat which they 

 choose to give it. There is no other mystery. This sugar is very pectoral, excellent 

 for medicine; but although it may be more healthy than that of tlie canes, it has not 

 a jileasing taste nor delicac\' and almost always has a little l)urnt flavor. The French 

 l^repare it better than the Indian women from whom tliey learned to make it; but 

 they have not yet reached the point of lileaehing and refining it." 



The description of Laiitaii's plate may l)e translated as follows: 

 The women occupied in watching the vessels, which are already full of the liquid 

 that flows from the trees, carry this liquid and pour it into the kettles seen on 



"Lafitau, Joseph Fraiii;ois. Mceurs des sauvages ameriquains, Paris, 1724, vol. ii, p. 154 



