Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-06-14
INDIAN MAPLE SUGAR
THE REQ MAN TAUGHT THE WHITE
MAN TO MAKE THE DAINTY.


All Northern Indians and Was
Known 10 Those Living as Far
south as Florida and Texas.
Very few of the people to whom ma
| pie sugar is an entirely familiar and
commonplace thing are aware of the
| fact that the method OF making sugar
| was taught to the white people by the
Indians and that they made sugar long
before the discovery of America. This
is only one of the many things that the
| white people learned from the Indians.
| Others were the weaving of cotton, the
| cultivation of Indian corn and the use
of tobacco.
Some of the early writers tell us that
| the French were the first To make this
| sugar and that they learned how to
| make IL from the Indian women. The
sap was collected in a rude way, cash
being cut in the tree. and into this n
stick was thrust, down which the free
" flowing sap dripped into vessel of
birch bark or n gourd or into wooden
troughs followed out by fire or the AK.
Then into larger wooden troughs full
of the sap redhot stones were thrown,
Just as in old times they used TO be
thrown into the water in which food
was boiled, and by constantly throwing
in hot stones and taking out those that
had become cool the sap was boiled
and evaporated. and at length sirup
was made which later became sugar.
This manufacture of the sugar was
not confined to any one tribe. but was
practiccd by all northern Indians and
was known to those living as far south
as Florida and Texas. Among the
sugar making tribes special festival
was held, which was called the maple
dance. which was undoubtedly a re-
ligious festival in the nature of a
prayer or propitiatory ceremony. ask
ing for an abundant flow of sap and
for good fortune in collecting it.
Among many If not all the Indians
inhabiting the northern United States
maple sugar was not merely II luxury,
something eaten because it was tooth
some. but was actually an important
part OF their support. Mixed with
pounded, parched corn. it was put up
in small quantities and was Il concen-
trated form of nutrimcnt not much
less valuable in respect to its quality
of support than the pemmican which
was used almost down to our own
times.
Among all the older writers who had
much familiarity with the customs of
the Indians accounts are given of the
of sugar. and this custom
was so general that among many
tribes the month in which the sap ran
best was called the sugar month. BY |
the IrOquOis the name RatirOntaks, |
meaning tree eaters. was applied TO the |
Algonquin tribes, and an eminent au-
thority, DR.. Brinton. has suggested |
that they were probably so called |
from their love of the product of the |
sugar maple" on the other hand, |
y. +. Chamberlain has very plausibly |
said that it is hardly likely that the /
Iroquois distinguished other tribes by /
this term. if its origin be as suggested. |
since they themselves We're sugar max
ers and eaters"
y more probable origin of the word is /
that given by Schoolcraft. in substance
as follows: "Ratirontaks, whence Adj
was applied chiefly TO the
Montagnais tribes, north of the st. |
and was dersive term in
n we'll known habit OF these
tribes of eating the inner bark OF trees
in winter when food was scarce or
when OH war excursions"
This habit of eating the inner bark of
trees was, as is well known, common
TO many tribes of Indians. both those
who inhabit the country where the sug-
ar maple grows and also those in other
parts of the country where the maple
is unknown.
On the western prairies sugar was
made also from the box elder. which
trees were tapped by the Indians and
the sap boiled down for sugar, and to-
lay the Cheyenne Indians tell us that
Il was from this tree that they derived
all the sugar that they had until the
arrival of the white man on the plains
more than 30 years ago.
1t is interesting to observe that in
many tribes today the word for sugar
S precisely the word which they APP
)lied to the product of the maple tree
before they knew the white mans sug-
IT. 1t is interesting also to see that
among many tribes the general term
or sugar means wood or tree water
hat is to say. tree sap. This is true OF
he Omahas and Poncas. according to
!. o. Dorsey, and also of the Kansas,
Usage and Iowa, Winnebago. Tuscaro-
n and Pawnee. The Cheyenues, on
he other hand, call it box elder water.
\. f. Chamberlain. who has gone with
,reat care into the question of the
meaning of the words which designate
he maple tree and its product. is dis
,osed to believe that the name of the
maple means the tree-in other words,
he real or actual tree or the tree which
stands above all others.-Forest and
stream.