Tree stump sap

Sunday I chopped some side roots from a tree stump I had partially dug last year.  This tree has been dead over 10 years, and maybe much longer than that.  I had burnt it down to ground level seven or eight years ago, and last year I dug around the stump for further burning this year.

Imagine my surprise when I got splattered by liquid tree sap when my axe chopped through a side root.  The stump is from a Western Larch (Tamarack) tree so I shouldn't have been totally surprised.  The same thing happen to me a year or two ago as I chopped another Western Larch tree stump.

Here is where I chopped through the root and the sap came running out.