88 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 
it is possible to see how many young men turn annually to the Arctic to 
satisfy their need for an outlet. If we include the official expeditions 
of governments such as that of the Soviet, we shall find that every summer 
more than fifty groups of investigators go to the Arctic and, were it less ex- 
pensive, the number would easily be trebled. Only a few of these groups 
go for purely scientific work, and still fewer for hunting alone. They are, 
in fact, as a rule imbued chiefly with a desire to see strange places and en- 
dure strange things, and only in a secondary way to bring back useful 
results. ‘There has been of recent years a happy tendency for these 
groups to go and come back without undue fuss and publicity. I would 
suggest that this use of the Arctic as an outlet to a healthy and laudable 
desire is one which should not be left out of any assessment of values, 
even though it must necessarily apply only to a small number of people. 
These suggestions as to aspects of interest in high latitudes will, no 
doubt, appeal to some and bore others, but in conclusion I would beg 
of you, as geographers, not to ignore these uninhabited zones, and I would 
like to repeat the words of a recent booklet on the subject, that whether 
it likes it or not, the world must take an interest in the polar regions. 
