by a single purpose and
readily shared with one another the weapons of their common stock. The
advance was made in the middle of the night, but at this season of the
year the whole {60} scene was brilliant with the light of the midnight
sun. The Indians stole to within two hundred yards of the place
indicated by the guides. From their ambush among the rocks they could
look out upon the tents of their sleeping victims. The camp of the
Eskimos stood on a broad ledge of rock at the spot where the
Coppermine, narrowed between lofty walls of red sandstone, roars
foaming over a cataract some three hundred yards in extent.

The Indians, sure of their prey, paused a few moments to make final
preparations for the onslaught. They cast aside their outer garments,
bound back their hair from their eyes, and hurriedly painted their
foreheads and faces with a hideous coating of red and black. Then with
weapons in hand they rushed forth upon their sleeping foe.

Hearne, unable to leave the spot, was compelled to witness in all its
details the awful slaughter which followed.

In a few seconds [he wrote in his journal] the horrible scene
commenced; it was shocking beyond description; the poor unhappy victims
were surprised in the midst of their sleep, and had neither time nor
power to make any resistance; men, {61} women, and children, in all
upwards of twenty, ran out of their tents stark naked, and endeavoured
to make their escape; but the Indians, having possession of all the
land-side, to no place could they fly for shelter. One alternative
only remained, that of jumping into the river; but, as none of them
attempted it, they all fell a sacrifice to Indian barbarity. The
shrieks and groans of the poor expiring wretches were truly dreadful.

But it is needless to linger on the details of the massacre, which
Hearne was thus compelled to witness, and the revolting mutilation of
the corpses which followed it. To Matonabbee and the other Indians the
whole occurrence was viewed as a proper incident of tribal war, and the
feeble protests which Hearne contrived to make only drew down upon him
the expression of their contempt.

After the massacre followed plunder. The Indians tore down the tents
of the Eskimos and with reckless folly threw tents, tent poles, and
great quantities of food into the waters of the cataract. Having made
a feast of fresh fish on the ruins of the camp, they then announced to
Hearne that they were