The sugar maple (_Acer saccharinum_) and its ally the _Negundo_ maple provided a delicious syrup; the bark of certain poplars and the bast of the sugar pine were chewed for their well-flavoured sweetness; the wild rice of the marshes will be further described in the next chapter.

The wild fruits included delicious strawberries, cherries, gooseberries, currants, black currants, grapes (in the south only), blackberries of many kinds, whortleberries, cranberries, pears of the service tree (_Pyrus canadensis_[8]), and raspberries of various types--red, yellow, and black.

Southern Canada and Nova Scotia contained various nut trees of the walnut order (hickories, butter-nuts, &c.), and hazel nuts were found everywhere except in the north.
[Footnote 8: Sometimes called _Amelanchier canadensis_.] We have left undescribed what is still politically the most important part of the whole of British North America--UPPER and LOWER CANADA.
These regions lie within the basin of the great St.Lawrence River, beyond all doubt the most important waterway of North America, more important even than the Mississippi.

The main origin of the St.
Lawrence in the west is Lake Superior, the largest sea of fresh water in the world, which is connected with Lake Nipigon on the north.

The waters of Lake Superior are carried over the Sault Ste.