ld be
found to guide him. Not only this, but the George River country, which
it was his ultimate purpose to reach, was, and still remains, terra
incognita; for although McLean made several trips up and down this
river, he neither mapped it nor left any definite descriptions
concerning it.

Here, then, was an enterprise fully worthy of an ambitious and
venturesome spirit like Hubbard. Here was a great, unknown wilderness
into which even the half-breed native trappers who lived on its
outskirts were afraid to penetrate, knowing that the wandering bands of
Indians who occasionally traversed its fastnesses themselves frequently
starved to death in that inhospitable, barren country. There was
danger to be faced and good "copy" to be obtained.

And so it was ho for the land of "bared boughs and grieving winds"!

II. OFF AT LAST

Labrador's uncertain game supply presented more than one vexed problem
for Hubbard to solve. Naturally it would be desirable to take with us
sufficient provisions to guard against all contingencies; but such were
the conditions of the country for which we were bound, that if the
expedition were at all heavily loaded it would be impossible for it to
make any headway. Hubbard, therefore, decided to travel light. Then
arose the question as to how many men to take with us. If the party
were large--that is, up to a certain limit--more food might possibly be
carried for each member than if the party were small; but if game
proved plentiful, there would be no danger from starvation whether the
party were large or small; for then short stops could be made to kill
animals, dry the flesh and make caches, after the manner of the
Indians, as supply bases to fall back upon should we be overtaken by an
early winter. And if the game should prove scarce, a small party could
kill, on a forced march, nearly, if not quite, as much as a large
party; and requiring a proportionately smaller amount of food to
maintain it, would consequently have a better chance of success. Taking
all things into consideration, Hubbard decided that the party should be
small.

To guard against possible disappointment in the way of getting men,
Hubbard wrote to the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company at Rigolet,
asking whether any could be obtained for a trip into the interior
either at that post or at Northwest River. The agent replied that such
a thing was highly improbable, as the visits of the Indians to these
posts had