Lost lands forgotten stories - Alexandra J Pratt

In 1903, a young journalist from New York decided to mount an expedition inland from Lake Melville on the USA's eastern Atlantic coast and across the interior to Ungava Bay, a distance of almost 1,000 kilometres. The explorer was Leonidas Hubbard, and he perished in the attempt. Two years later, his widow, Mina set out to complete the expedition.It was Mina's writings that provided the inspiration for Alexandra Pratt's own journey. Having heard "the siren song of a lonely wind on desolate tundra", Pratt sets off to retrace Mina's route, hindered both by a small budget and (by her own admission) a high degree of naivety. Neither is ideal for a journey to the little-known interior of Labrador, one of the world's truly wild places. Fortunately, Pratt is accompanied by an Innu guide, Jean-Pierre Ashini, who keeps her alive when she leaves their axe behind in the forest, swamps their only canoe and is generally debilitated by the mosquitoes, the rapids and the prospect of meeting a bear.