LABRADOR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13650, 18 July 1908, Page 3

LABRADOR.

A \vUMAiN I^VPLOiIEIV

The latest woman explorer is Mrs. L, Huuuaiu, junior, aim latsi- .Loudon papers give accounts of "a woman s way Enough .Labrador. ' Labrador lies tar north, but it has a summer, and tins iuHaU» journey bv Airs. Hubbard was made in tha summer, iter husband, a pioneer in the exploration of Labrador, laid down his tile in the task. She took up that, task where lie leit at, earned it through with success, and now publishes this account of her journtv, with the rough diaiy kept by her husband during his expedition. What , in -a geographical seiibe, has been the fruit of Airs. Hubbard's journey, including the fruit also of her husband's uncompleted one? She iioks the result thus:— , • "llie. pioner 'maps' of the Kascaupee and George liners, that of the Naseaiipce showing Seal lake and Lake Miehikamau to be in the samei drainage basin, and what geographers had supposed to be two distinct rivers, the JN'ortli-xvtst and the Xaseaupee, to 1)3 one and the same, tU-j outlet of Lake Miehikamau carrying its waters through Seal Lake and thence to Lake Melville; with soma .notes by the way on the topography, geology, flora and fauna- of the country traversed.'-'.-' Mrs. Hubbard's journey was really a long, perilous voyage in canoes, and she made it with a small party of "trail blazers" native to the ways of Labrador, quiet, courageous fellow |t, who could lake risks without fearing them. At one time the canoes would be tearing along a swollen river jagged with, rocks, and—- " I would sit trtiuibling with excitement as we raced down the slope. It was most difficult (o resist, the impulse to grasp the sides of the canoe and to compd myself instea'cl to sit with hands elapsed si bout- my knes and muscles relaxed, so that my body might lend itself to the motion of the canoe." Again it would be a question of cutting a trail along the river's bank and "portaging" llie canoes overland, because uome miles of water was unnavigable. Then a bvnr would malic his appearance, as the following records: " Once I announced my intention of setting up my fi-hing-rod : and going down to the river to fi:h, while the rest of the outfit, was.'being brought-up;- Sudden consternation overtook 'the faces of llie men. In a toue- of mingled alarm, disapproval, suspicion, George exclaimed, 'I r es, that is just what I was. ihinkiii'.r vou would be doing. I think you had l>fltt-<>r sit down right"l here- by the rifles. There are fresh bear tracks about, hero, and Job says they run clown , there, by the river." The caribou of Labrador .are -famous big game, and we. get from Mrs. Hub-

bard ;i word descriptive of a particularly herd of them which she saw: "those lying along the bank got up at sight of us and withdrew towards the gread herd in rather leisurely manner, stopping now and than to watch us curiously. When /the herd was reached aiid the alarm 'given, the stags lined themselves up in the front rank, and stood facing us, with heads high and a- rather delimit air. Jt- Mas a magnificent sight. They were in summer garb of pretty brown, shadiug to light grey and white on the under parts. The horns were in velvet, and those of the stags seemed us if they must surely weigh down the heads on which thev rested.

The mosquitoes were a terror of nights, and'in the. morning, says Mrs Hubbard—"l could feel how swollen my neck and ears were, and wondered how I looked; but I was rather glad that I had no uiirror with me, and tso-could not sec. Now and then I had spoken of iny suspicions a.s to what a a>tmtrkable spec-uiele 1 must present. Ceoi'ge, manlike, always insisted that : I looked "just right" ; but that night, in aii unguarded moment, ha agreed with mo tlia,t:-it was a. good.thing I had not brought a. mirror." Courageous, traveller— but) always th';J woman! 'Aiid how womanly and beaiuiful is this : .•.''"

"1 have none of the feeling of lonliness which 1 knew everyone would exl>ect ma to liave. I did not feel far from home, but iii reality lets homeless than I had ever felt, anywhere since 1 knetv my husband was never to .come back to inc." Labrador is a laud of rigor and severi-.y, but even there Mrs. Hubbard met that "one touch of nature" which makes us all kin. She met it in the dandy Indian, who' wanted to be admired, and in the Indian woman, who coverted her green "sweater" with its red cull's and collar. Such touches are homely and winning in a book which, all through, compels interest and admiration.