other end of the basket a birch-bark cradle, made for her doll, worked
very richly, she clapped her hands for joy, saying, "Ah, nurse, you should
not have brought me so many pretty things at once, for I am too happy!"

The remaining contents of the basket consisted of seeds and berries, and
a small cake of maple-sugar, which Mrs. Frazer had made for the young
lady. This was very different in appearance from the Indian sugar; it was
bright and sparkling, like sugar-candy, and tasted sweeter. The other
sugar was dry, and slightly bitter: Mrs. Frazer told Lady Mary that this
peculiar taste was caused by the birch-bark vessels, which the Indians
used for catching the sap as it flowed from the maple-trees.

"I wonder who taught the Indians how to make maple-sugar?" asked the child.

"I do not know;" replied the nurse. "I have heard that they knew how to
make this sugar when the discoverers of the country found them. [Footnote:
However this may be, the French settlers claim the merit of converting the
sap into sugar.] It may be that they found it out by accident. The
sugar-maple when wounded in March, and April, yields a great deal of sweet
liquor. Some Indians may have supplied themselves with this juice, when
pressed for want of water; for it flows so freely in warm days in spring,
that several pints can be obtained from one tree in the course of the day.
By boiling this juice, it becomes very sweet; and at last, when all the
thin watery part has gone off in steam, it becomes thick, like honey; by
boiling it still-longer, it turns to sugar, when cold. So you see, my dear,
that the Indians may have found it out by boiling some sap, instead of
water, and letting it remain on the fire till it grew thick."

"Are there many kinds of maple-trees, that sugar can be made from,
nurse?" asked the little girl.