The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1896-07-27
AN ACCIDENT.
The Discovery Of Maple Sugar Due
to One.
Ehe Feast That Woksis, the Mighty
Hunter, Sat Down To-A Mar
vel of Cookery.

1t does not appear that any record
was made of aboriginal methods of
tapping the maple and converting it's
sap into sugar, nor Is the Oldest maple
Old enough to tell US, though 1t had
the gift Of speech or gn-making in
Hell1gible to us. We can only guess
that the primitive Algonquin laborious-
~ Inflicted a barbarous wound with
his stone hatchet, and with stone
gouge cut place for a spout, so far
setting the fashion, which was long
Followed by white men, with only the
difference that better tools made posi-
Ole Or we may guess that the Indian,
taking a hint from his little red broth
er, NiquaSese, the squirrel, who taps the
smooth barked branches, broke these
OFF and caught the sap in suspended
vessels of birch bark, than which no
cleaner and sweeter receptacle could be
imagined Doubtless the boiling was
done in the earthen kokhs, or pots,
some Of which had a capacity of sew
eral gallons. According to Indian
myths, 1t was taught by q heaven
instructor
The true story of the discovery of ma
pie sugar making is in the legend of
Wol1sis, the mighty hunter. Going
forth one morning to the chase, he bade
Moqua, the squaw of his bosom, to
have choice cut of moose meat boiled
Tor him when he should return, and,
that she might be reminded of the
time, he stuck a stake in the snow and
made straight mark out from it i'm the
place where its shadow would then fall.
She promised strict compliance and,
as he departed, she hewed off the de-
sired tidbit with her sharpest stone
knife, and, filling her best kokh with
clean snow for melting, hung it over the
IRE. Then she sat down on a bearskin
and began embroidering a pair Of moe
casins with variously dyed porcupine
quilts.
This was g. labor of love- for the
moccasins, Of the finest deerskins, were
Tor her lord. She became so absorbed
in the work that the kokh was forget
ten till the bark cord that suspended
1t was burned off, and 1t spilled it's
contents ON the fire with a startling,
quenching, scattering explosion that
filled the wigwann with steam and
smoke She lifted the overturned YES
sci from the embers and ashes by a
stick thrust into its four cornered
mouth and when lit was cool enough to
handle she repaired it with a new ball
of bark, and the kokh was ready for
service again. But the shadow of the
stake had swung SO far toward the
mark that she knew there was not
time to melt snow to boil the dinner.
Happily, she bethought her Of the
great maple behind the wigwam
tapped merely for the provision of a
pleasant drink, but the sweet water
might serve a better purpose now. So
she filled the kokh with sap and hung
1t over the mended fire. In spite OF
impatient watching it presently began
10 boil, whereupon she popped the am
pie ration of moose meat into It and
set a cake of pounded corn to bake
on the tilted slab before the fire. Then
she resumed her embroidery, in which
the sharp point of each thread sup
piled its own needle
The work grew more and more inter
esting. The central figure. her husbands
aotem of the bear, was becoming so life
like that it could easily be distinguished
from the wolves, eagles, and turtles of
the other tribal clans. In imagination
she already beheld the moccasins on the
feet of her noble Woksis, now stealing
In awful silence along the war path.
now on the neck of the fallen foe, now
returning jubilant with triumph or flee
ing homeward from defeat, to ease the
shame of failure by kicking her, in
which case she felt herself bearing, as
ever her useful part. So she dreamed
and worked stitch by stitch, while the