420 



and indeed in all the adjoining seigniories ; the 

 process of obtaining it nriay be described in a 

 few words. In the spring, when the sap begins 

 to rise in the trees, the habitam repair to the 

 woods, furnished with kettles, troughs, and all 

 the necessary apparatus for carrying on the 

 manufacture, where they form a temporary en- 

 campment : the mode of collecting the sap is 

 by making an incision in the tree, into which 

 is inserted a thin bit of stick to serve as a con- 

 ductor, from whence, an hour or two after sun- 

 rise, the sap begins to trickle down into a trough 

 placed to receive it ; when a sufficient quantity 

 of this hquor is obtained from several trees, it 

 is put into an iron kettle and boiled, until it 

 comes to the consistence of a thick syrup ; it is^ 

 then cooled, and afterwards subjected to an- 

 other process of boiling and clarifying. When 

 this is sufficiently performed in proportion to 

 the degree of purity they intend to give it, it is 

 put into vessels of different sizes to harden, 

 containing from half a pound to eight or ten 

 pounds. Its colour is of all shades between 

 a dark and a light brown, according to the 

 care that is taken in clarifying it ; indeed, by a 

 repetition of the process it maj^ be rendered as 

 white as common refined sugar. Being consi- 

 dered very wholesome, the use of it is general 

 among the country people for all purposes, and 



