:49:00
and l was always looking
for polar bears or seals to spot.
:49:04
but unfortunately
there were none.
:49:08
And as we flew along
the east coast of Hudson Bay--
:49:11
- this flat country frightened me...
- l don't know. Let me say this again.
:49:13
- l don't go for this northmanship.
- because it just seemed endless.
:49:18
We just seemed going into nowhere.
:49:20
And the further north we went
the more monotonous.
:49:24
But l see it as a kind of a game--
this northmanship thing.
:49:26
People say "Well were you
ever up at the North Pole?"
:49:30
l say "l did
a dogsled trip of 22 days"...
:49:33
and the other fellow says
"Well l did one of 30 days. "
:49:37
Perhaps they would see themselves--
:49:40
Sure the North's changed my life.
l can't conceive...
:49:43
of anyone being
in close touch with the North...
:49:46
whether he lived there all the time
or simply travelled it...
:49:49
month after month
year after--
:49:51
l can't conceive of such a person
being really untouched by the North.
:49:56
When l left in 1 965--
at least left the job--
:49:59
lt was not like there was some
special merit some virtue...
:50:04
to being in the North
or some special virtue...
:50:07
in having been
with the primitive people.
:50:10
You know what special virtue
is there in that?
:50:12
lt is most diffiicult to describe.
:50:15
lt was extreme observation.
This is very true.
:50:19
l knew very well l could not go anywhere
except for a mile or two walking.
:50:25
l always think of the long summer nights
when the snow had melted...
:50:29
the lakes were open and the geese
and ducks had started to fly home.
:50:35
During that time
the sun would set...
:50:38
and when there was still
the last shimmer in the sky...
:50:41
l would walk out
to one of those lakes...
:50:44
and watch those ducks and geese
just fly around peacefully...
:50:48
or sitting on the water...
:50:51
and l felt that l was
almost part of that country--
:50:55
part of that peaceful surrounding--
and l wished that it would never end.