"The Maple is also a good wood ... That tree has sap different from that of all others. There is made from it a beverage very pleasing to drink, of the colour of Spanish wine but not so good. It has a sweetness which renders it of very good taste; it does not inconvenience the stomach ... This is the drink of the Indians, and even of the French, who are fond of it."

Nicolas Denys, Histoire naturelle des Peuples, des Animaux, des Arbres et Plantes de l'Amerique Septentrionale, 1672

"There is no lack of sugar in these forests. In the spring the maple trees contain a fluid resembling that which the canes of the island contain. The women busy themselves in receiving it into vessels of bark, when it trickles from these trees; they boil it, and obtain from it a fairly good sugar."

Sebastian Rasles, Letters edifiantes et curieuses, 1724