For more than fifty years Hinterland Who’s Who kept Canadians supplied with little-known facts of interest.

THE PUMP JACK

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The North American Pump Jack

is a type of the nodding donkey

also found

in Arabia.

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The Pump Jack flourishes in

the Great Plains of America

and adjacent prairies of Canada.

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It can be found in packs or alone,

feeding on fossil residue deep beneath its iron snout.

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One habit of the Pump Jack is to die

standing with its head lowered,

as if at the end of a lifetime of bowing prayers.

Thus,

a metronome of industriousness

becomes

a monument to exhaustion.

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For a more complete story of the Pump Jack,

why not contact the Canadian Wildlife Service

in Ottawa?

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THE TALL POPPY

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The Tall Poppy

is also called

the Great Northern Atwood

because of her ability to emit popular literature

from Toronto.

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Poetry, every genre of fiction, economics, and lit crit

all provide good homes.

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The conspicuous stature of the Tall Poppy

drops a sundial shadow across the Canadian hinterland.

Neighbouring poppies, disoriented

by one so like and unlike themselves,

complain

of the shade.

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Accordingly,

they discharge a variety of parasites

to attack her attitude and reduce her altitude.

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For a more complete story of the Tall Poppy,

why not quit grumbling about her persona

and actually read her books?

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THE NFB DOCUMENTARY

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The NFB Documentary

is the smallest member of the film family.

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Once a populous species riding the Canadian airwaves,

it now hovers on the brink of extinction.

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The NFB Documentary spends much of its time

gathering scraps of nationalist pride.

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When the celluloid is full of itself,

it stores these scraps

in close-ups

or caches them

in its archives.

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The call of the NFB Documentary

—and it has but one call in its repertoire—

has come to narrate the internal wilderness

of many Canadians with its stiff, stilted, and

hesitant quality.

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For a more complete story,

why not contact the National Film Board

in Montreal?  

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