:35:00
Humans, too, have adapted
to the land of winter.
:35:05
Called "Eskimos" by outsiders
:35:07
descended from peoples who
crossed the ice age land bridge
:35:11
the lnupiat learned to use every
resource in their frozen desert.
:35:17
For food,
they turned to the sea.
:35:22
Still today, they watch
for arriving bowhead whales.
:35:28
If the lnupiat
have been respectful
:35:30
they believe a whale will
give itself to them as a gift.
:35:39
The hunt,
sanctioned by international law
:35:42
is a sacred ritual
to the lnupiats.
:35:55
Hauling in it's body
:35:57
they thank the whale
:35:58
for the gift
of life-sustaining nourishment
:36:00
to combat the piercing cold.
:36:09
For other humans, the cold
has posed a mortal threat
:36:13
recorded dramatically
in images of another age.
:36:18
In 1897, one of history's
largest gold strikes
:36:22
drew
a quarter-million "stampeders"
:36:25
through the snowbound passes
of Alaska
:36:27
towards the gold fields
of the Klondike.
:36:32
Anticipating easy wealth
:36:34
they trudged headlong
into an lce Age.
:36:39
Half the prospectors would never
even reach the gold fields.
:36:44
Arriving ships were
marooned eight months by ice.
:36:50
Many attempted to make
the journey with pack horses.
:36:56
The animals died
by the thousands.