HEROIC WOMAN'S QUEST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 13 July 1907, Page 4

HEROIC WOMAN'S QUEST.

EXPLORING LABRADOR TO FLVISII! A HL'SUAND"S • WORK. j IiUO MIU.CS ALONE. London, .May "J cannot recommend exploring as a |paMime for women. It is fraught with 100 many perils." Thin was the opinion "expressed to an Express representative by Mrs Leonidas Hubbard who lias traced two giant rivers to theiv sources, and travelled through fiOO nii es of unexphrud Labrador. She accomplished this remarkable feat in forty-three days of actual travelling, aiul iu the company only of three Indian guides and a voting Eskimo half-breed.

Mrs Hid'bard "veins ninth more lik*'* in appenvaiire lo grate the drawing-room than lo face tin* rigors of a journey over impenetrated wilds. She is slight, in huilt), pale in conijdeNK'n. gentle and subdued in spiwh. There is, however, a look of unswerving resolution in her face, which makes the extraordinary sh»' achieved appear less remark able. The task whiili Mrs "Hubbard set l-e fore her two years ago was the fulfilment of her liU husband's ambition, lfo

was editor of the inagn/.ino Outing, ot' New York, and in 1003 started on an ex ploration with another white man and a half-breed guide.

''My husband was misdirected," said Mrs Hubbard, "broke down, and perished of exhaustion. J determined to finish the work in which he had fallen. I told no one lest I should be opposed. Publicity would have led to enforced abandonment of my scheme. "My outfit consisted of. two tents made of balloon silk. T had also two canvas-covered canoes, 7801b of provisions, two rifles, three 22-calibre singleshot pistols, and n -calibre revolver, this being for my own use. "I was dressed in a short skirt over knickerbockers, a sweater, and a heavy leather belt to whir*h were attached my revolver, hunting knife, and cartridge belt. I'also took a pair of heavy oil tanned leather mocassins reaching to the knees. A narrow-brimmed soft felt hat completed my outfit." Mrs Hubbard followed the track tako-i by her late husband for thirty-eight iniies; thence she broke into new country, taking the course of the river Nas-

caupce and the river George. ''These rivers were of great width and very deep," said Mrs Hubbard. "The George was at one part three miles across. The rapids were exceedingly dangerous, and wo'traversed the whole lengths of the streams in canoes, which were managed by the men who fiecom-

panied me. "I did not meet a living person over a stretch of 350 miles, and the only signs of human life worethe skeletons of some deserted wigwams." Mrs Hubbard, who is a Canadian, does not think Labrador holds out prospects for settlers. "Tlie climate is too cold, and the season too brief for agriculture," she said. "Tlicre are fur-bearing animals, however, and there may bo possibilities for the miner."

Mrs Hubbard is preparing* a book, giving tlio full history of licr experiences. She will also enter the lecture field.