r Maple this juice
is very abundant, and so sweet that the Indians and settlers obtain
large quantities of sugar from it.

In the month of March, when the sap begins to ascend in the tree, the
sugar-makers build temporary sheds in or near the woods. They first tap
the trees by boring a hole, from one to two inches deep, into the stem
of each maple. A short tube is inserted into the hole, and the sap of
the tree flows through it, and is caught in a pail or trough placed at
the foot of the tree. The amount of sap which each tree yields varies
considerably, but the average is from two to three gallons each day. It
is said that some trees have yielded the enormous amount of twenty
gallons in one day, while sometimes, on the other hand, the quantity is
not more than a pint. The trees, which grow in small clumps, and thus
obtain more light and air, are more profitable as sugar-producers than
those which grow in forests. The maple-sap continues to flow from the
tree for about six weeks.

From time to time the Indians, or settlers, collect the contents of the
various vessels placed against the trees, and empty the juice into large
kettles, which hold from fifteen to twenty gallons each. One man can
usually attend to two or three hundred trees in this way, if they are
not too far apart. The juice in the kettles is boiled over fires until
the sugar begins to form into solid crystals. Sometimes milk, or white
of eggs, is added to the juice, in order to separate the impurities,
which rise to the surface, and are skimmed off with a ladle. The whole
operation is very simple and rough, when compared with the great care
which is given to the manufacture of sugar from the sugar-cane; the
sugar obtained from the maple, though not so pure, is the same in kind
as cane-sugar. The juice from the maple must be boiled within about
twenty-four hours after it has flowed from the tree. If kept longer than
this it begins to ferment, and quickly spoils. A good maple will yield
sufficient sap to make about four pounds of sugar every year.

THE GIANT OF THE TREASURE CAVES.

(_Continued from page 287._)

The colour was coming again into Estelle's white face, and presently
there was a flutter of the eyelids. Then she opened her eyes, and gave a
bewildered glance at the friends collected round her. She closed them
for a moment, as if weary, but only to open them again and smile as she
looked up at the anxious faces.

'Come, this is disgra