The Lure of the Labrador Wild | Page 9

from Lake Michikamau to Groswater Bay or Hamilton Inlet, after being
joined about twenty miles above Grand Lake by a river called the
Nascaupee. Relying upon this map, Hubbard planned to reach early in
the summer the Northwest River Post of the Hudson's Bay Company,
which is situated at the mouth of the Northwest River, ascend the river
to Lake Michikamau, and then, from the northern end of that lake, beat
across the country to the George River.
The Geological Survey map is the best of Labrador extant, but its
representation as to the Northwest River (made from hearsay) proved to
be wholly incorrect, and the mistake it led us into cost us dear. After
the rescue, I thoroughly explored Grand Lake, and, as will be seen from
my map, I discovered that no less than five rivers flow into it, which
are known to the natives as the Nascaupee, the Beaver, the Susan, the
Crooked, and the Cape Corbeau. The Nascaupee is the largest, and as

the inquiries I made among the Indians satisfied me that it is the outlet
of Lake Michikamau, it is undoubtedly the river that figures on the
Geological Survey map as the Northwest, while as for the river called
on the map the Nascaupee, it is in all likelihood non- existent. There is
a stream known to the natives as Northwest River, but it is merely the
strait, one hundred yards wide and three hundred yards long, which, as
shown on my map, connects Groswater Bay with what the natives call
the Little Lake, this being the small body of water that lies at the lower
end of Grand Lake, the waters of which it receives through a rapid.
Hubbard hoped to reach the George River in season to meet the
Nenenot or Nascaupee Indians, who, according to an old tradition,
gather on its banks in late August or early September to attack with
spears the herds of caribou that migrate at that time, passing eastward
to the sea coast. It is reported that while the caribou are swimming the
river the Indians each year kill great numbers of them, drying the flesh
for winter provisions and using the skins to make clothing and
wigwam-covering. Hubbard wished not only to get a good story of the
yearly slaughter, but to spend some little time studying the habits of the
Indians, who are the most primitive on the North American continent.
Strange as it may seem to some, the temperature in the interior of
Labrador in midsummer sometimes rises as high as 90 degrees or more,
although at sunset it almost invariably drops to near the freezing point
and frost is liable at any time. But the summer, of course, is very short.
It may be said to begin early in July, by which time the snow and ice
are all gone, and to end late in August. There is just a hint of spring and
autumn. Winter glides into summer, and summer into winter, almost
imperceptibly, and the winter is the bitter winter of the Arctic.
If the season were not too far advanced when he finished studying the
Indians, Hubbard expected to cross the country to the St. Lawrence and
civilisation; otherwise to retrace his steps over his upward trail. In the
event of our failure to discover the Indian encampment, and our finding
ourselves on the George short of provisions, Hubbard planned to run
down the swift-flowing river in our canoe to the George River Post at
its mouth, and there procure passage on some fishing vessel for
Newfoundland; or, if that were impossible, to outfit for winter, and
when the ice formed and the snow came, return overland with dogs.
Hubbard knew that by ascending the Grand River he would be taking a

surer, if longer, route to Lake Michikamau; but it was a part of his
project to explore the unknown country along the river mapped as the
Northwest. I have called this country unknown. It is true that in the
winter of 1838 John McLean, then the agent of the Hudson's Bay
Company at Fort Chimo, a post situated on the Koksoak River about
twenty miles above its mouth, passed through a portion of this country
in the course of a journey he made with dogs from his post to
Northwest River Post. His route was up the Koksoak and across
country to the northern end of Lake Michikamau, which he followed
for some little distance. After leaving the lake he again travelled
eastward across country until at length he came upon the "Northwest"
or Nascaupee River at a point probably not far above Grand Lake, from
which it was easy travelling over the ice to the post. The record left by
him of the journey, however, is very incomplete, and