of an interpreter, Hearne informed the natives of the objects of the expedition. The calumet was smoked with their chiefs, who declared themselves pleased with the visit and the prospect of trade with the white man. The pow-wow ended with the usual exchange of presents. Hearne remarks that though the Copper Indians "have some European commodities among them, which they purchase from the Northern Indians, the same articles from the hands of an Englishman were more prized. As I was the first whom they had ever seen, and in all probability might be the last, it was curious to see how they flocked about me, and expressed as much desire to examine me from top to toe as a European naturalist would a nondescript animal. They, however, found and pronounced me to be a perfect human being, except in the colour of my hair and eyes; the former, they said, was like the stained hair of a buffalo's tail, and the latter, being light, was like those of a gull. The whiteness of my skin also was, in their opinion, no ornament, as they said it resembled meat which had been sodden in water till all the blood was extracted. On the whole I was viewed as a great curiosity in this part of the world."

The month of July brought Hearne and his party to the upper portion of the Copper Mine River. Here, on its banks, they found the musk-ox, or moose, feeding; they also met with the ground squirrel, and got on the track of bears. Hearne proceeded with his survey. He had not gone far down the river before he was startled by the intelligence that the scouts of his party had come across a camp of Esquimaux. Instantly, the whole of his followers put on the war-paint. But we must leave Hearne to tell the story of what followed:

"By the time the Indians had made themselves thus completely frightful," he writes, "it was near one o'clock in the morning of the seventeenth; when finding all the Esquimaux, whom they had now reached, quiet in their huts, they rushed

from their ambuscade and fell on the poor unsuspecting creatures, unperceived, till close to the very eaves of their huts, when they soon began the bloody massacre, while I stood neuter in the rear.

"In a few seconds 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, women, and children-in all upwards of twenty-ran out of their huts 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 dreadful; and my horror was much increased at seeing a young girl, seemingly about eighteen years of age, killed so near me, that when the first spear was stuck into her side she fell down at my feet and twisted round my legs, so that it was with difficulty I could disengage myself from her dying grasp. As two Indians pursued this unfortunate victim, I begged very hard for her life. The murderers made no reply till they had stuck both their spears through her body, and transfixed her to the ground. They then looked at me sternly in the face, and began to ridicule me, by asking if I wanted an Esquimaux wife; and paid not the smallest regard to the shrieks and agony of the poor wretch who was twisting round their spears like an eel. My situation and the terror of my mind at beholding this butchery cannot easily be conceived, much less described. Even to this hour I never reflect on the transactions of that horrid day without shedding tears."

After this scene of wanton atrocity, Hearne's task in completing the survey of the river, and making an examination of the region, as may readily be imagined, was not a pleasant one. A neighbouring camp of Esquimaux, whose inmates had escaped, though they had heard of the massacre, kept Hearne's party on the qui vive for reprisals. None, however, was offered; and our traveller was enabled to reach the Arctic Sea and the mouth of the Copper Mine River in safety. Here, he tells us

E

he erected a mark, and took possession of the coast on behalf of the Hudson Bay Company. The appearance of the coast was desolate in the extreme. Landward, nothing was seen, save a few cranberry bushes, and a range of barren hills and marshes. Seaward, broken ice was still visible. In a ravine were a few miserable hovels, mostly underground, which had been deserted by some wandering family of Esquimaux. Strewn about was the debris of bones and scraps of skins; in some of the huts were stone kettles, horn dishes and spoons, and several hatchets, rudely headed with copper.

The animal life of the region consisted of mice, Alpine hares, wolverines, and ground-squirrels. Musk-oxen, bears, and deer, and a beautiful breed of dogs, with sharp, erect ears, pointed noses, and bushy tails, were also met with. About the shores were flocks of sea-fowl, comprising loons, geese, and Arctic gulls. On drifting hummocks of ice, seals were visible. Of the richness of the copper mines, Hearne, evidently, was not convinced. One piece of the ore, weighing over four pounds, he found tolerably pure and of good quality; but his search for the metal was on the whole indifferently rewarded. He appears to have contented himself, however, with a surface survey; and, probably from want of tools, made no excavations. Seemingly to justify his unsuccess in finding copper, Hearne, with no little simplicity, telis the following story, which he gathered from the Indians of the region :

"There is a strange tradition among those people, that the first person who discovered those mines was a woman, and that she conducted parties to the place for several years. On one occasion some of the men were rude to her, and she made a vow to be revenged on them. She is said to have been a great conjuror. Accordingly, when the men had loaded themselves with copper and were going to return, she refused to accompany them, saying that she would sit on the mine till she sunk into the ground, and that the copper would sink with her. The