100 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



be possible to trace the ruin and misery of the in- 

 habitants of some inland town or village enduring a 

 water-famine to the nervous act of some petty skipper 

 fearful for the safety of his ship, who, by some such 

 act as I have described, has destroyed the celestial 

 water-bearers whose mission it was to supply that far- 

 away community with the indispensable gift of water. 

 The idea does not seem so far-fetched after all, does 

 it? 



But let us now picture the great assemblage of 

 clouds, laden with water, moving majestically off on 

 their appointed errand. They have to run the gauntlet 

 of many dangers to their unpurchasable cargo. The 

 willing winds bear them swiftly upon their way, but 

 in their passage they may and often do collide with 

 each other, and spill the treasure back into the already 

 overwealthy sea ; or a thunderstorm may occur with 

 the same effects ; or a failure on the part of the wind 

 to maintain its force may cause the cloud to delay 

 until it gradually melts away ; or borne straightly 

 towards its destined goal, it may at the last moment 

 be diverted otherwhither, and expend its valuable load 

 where it is not wanted. Yet such is the magnitude of 

 the provision made, that the occurrence of these many 

 accidents matters little. Nature, in her arrangements 

 for the life and health of the world, is lavish beyond 

 belief. She provides millions of eggs in the fish in 

 order that about five per million shall survive; she 

 covers the fruit trees with such a wealth of blossom 

 that if all of it fruited the trees would collapse, in 

 order that ten per cent, of the promise shall be hailed 

 as a good crop; and she loads the nimbus clouds of 

 the tropics with countless millions of tons of water for 



