Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/348

318 for some time suspicion rested upon the Copper Indians. The Dog-ribs and Hare Indians long groaned under cruel injuries from the latter licentious tribe, who termed them "slaves," and, whenever they met, used to rob them of their women and their most valuable efects. But the "slaves," though to a stranger they appear a mild race, are yet exceedingly treacherous; a quality which their cowardice serves but to augment, for what they dare not attempt openly they effect through stratagem and cunning. Thus, in 1823, they fell upon their persecutors by surprise, and cut off a considerable party, including The Hook and Long Legs, who figure in Sir John Franklin's first journey. The terror of this act of retribution is undoubtedly the cause why we were visited by no Copper Indians during our long residence at Fort Confidence. The present suspicion arose from the recent death of Akaitcho, the old chief of that tribe, so honourably mentioned by Franklin and Back, and a reported declaration of his followers, that their grief and despair could only be consoled by making war upon their unoffending neighbours. At length, however, the suspicion attached to the Copper Indians was discarded, and the guilt fixed by the natives upon an individual of their own camp, named Edahadelly (my quondam hunting