A BENEFICENT POWER 7 



Round and round in never-ceasing cycle the water 

 is drawn up from the ocean, is carried along in the 

 clouds, descends upon the mountains, and gathers 

 in the Ganges to flow once more into the sea. The 

 Ganges may gradually change its course as it eats 

 into first one bank and then the other. But it will 

 flow on and on and on for as far into the future as 

 the human eye can ken. 



And its power, so terrifying to primitive man — 

 even to us at times — will become more and more a 

 power for good. Already great canals have been 

 taken from its main stream and its tributaries, and 

 millions of acres have been irrigated by its water, 

 thus helping to bring to birth great crops of wheat 

 and rice, cotton, sugar-cane, and oil-seeds. 

 Schemes for utilising the water-power in its fall 

 through the mountains by converting it into electric 

 power are in contemplation, so that railways may 

 be run by it and power for great industries be 

 furnished. Once more, too, the course of the river 

 may become a line of communication as sea-planes 

 are used to fly from town to town and alight upon 

 its surface. 



So as we come to know the river in its deepest 

 significance, our impression of its everlastingness 

 and its irresistible power remains. But our sense 

 of fear diminishes. We feel that the river is ready 

 to co-operate with us. That it is capable of being 

 taken in hand and led. That its power is not essen- 

 tially destructive but beneficent. That there is in 

 it almost inexhaustible capacity for helping plant 

 and beast and man. And that it is a friend and 

 anxious to help us. 



