They all
immediately embarked in their little canoes, and paddled to a shoal in
the middle of the river, which being somewhat more than a gunshot from
any part of the shore, put them out of the reach of our barbarians.
"When the savages discovered that the surviving Eskimo had gained the
shore above-mentioned, the Northern Indians began to plunder the
tents of the deceased of all the copper utensils they could find; such
as hatchets, bayonets, knives, &c, after which they assembled on the
top of an adjacent hill, and, standing all in a cluster, so as to form
a solid circle, with their spears erect in the air, gave many shouts
of victory, constantly clashing their spears against each other, and
frequently calling out _tima! tima!_[6] by way of derision to the poor
surviving Eskimo, who were standing on the shoal almost knee deep in
water."
[Footnote 6: "_Tima_ in the Eskimo language is a friendly word similar
to _what cheer_?"--Hearne.]
"It ought to have been mentioned in its proper place," writes Hearne,
after describing further atrocities, "that in making our retreat up
the river, after killing the Eskimo on the west side, we saw an old
woman sitting by the side of the water killing salmon, which lay at
the foot of the fall as thick as a shoal of herrings. Whether from the
noise of the fall, or a natural defect in the old woman's hearing, it
is hard to determine, but certain it is, she had no knowledge of the
tragical scene which had been so lately transacted at the tents,
though she was not more than two hundred yards from the place.
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