164 



THE NATURE BOOK 



outstrip their less fortunate neighbours in 

 the struggle for existence. The more 

 ground they obtain as their own, the larger 



T' 



Of late years attempts have been made 

 to control some of the redundant energies 

 of streams such as these. Power stations 

 have been erected 

 at the foot of 

 Snowdon and else- 

 where. The water 

 is led through 

 turbines, which 

 produce electrical 

 energy, and this 

 is carried over 

 hill and dale to 

 centres of indus- 

 try, and put to 

 the service o f 

 man. But the 

 torrent is a spend- 

 thrift. When the 

 clouds have filled 

 it to overflowing, 

 it sheds its 

 treasures without 

 stint, with no 



"THE TORRENT IS 

 A SPENDTHRIFT.' 



amount of rain 

 they will obtain 

 to swell their 

 streams. They 

 may not be so 

 serviceable as 

 their poorer 

 brethren ; their 

 rapid and pre- 

 cipitous courses 

 will not float 

 argosies, nor do 

 they tend to 

 bind c o m - 

 mu ni ties to- 

 gether by 

 serving as a 

 means of com- 

 munica tion. 

 They spend 

 their energies in 

 nothing to the 



THE DROUGHT KINDS 



IT WITH NO RESERVE," 



mad rushes ; they give 

 thirsty lands through 

 w]ii( h they run, and finally on plunging 

 \nU) the great al)yss of ocean they are 

 swallowed up and forgotten. 



thought of the drought which finds 

 it with no reserve and almost help- 

 less. To ensure stability the stream 

 must be taken in liand at an early stage, 

 its waters storetl in a reservoir, and 



