And speaking of that story, was there a Jupiter and a Jupiter Pluvius, too?[33]
[33] "That was a good deal like asking if there was a George Washington and a President Washington too," said the High School Boy, after he had looked it up.
Wouldn't you say the addition of "Pluvius" to the name of their chief god meant the ancients recognized rain-making as a very important and difficult business to manage?
But what is it, really, that brings our rains? What has the sea to do with it? And the winds? And the mountains? Your geography answers all these questions briefly. You will find a full treatment of the whole subject of the weather and of how the weather man, "the man with a hundred eyes," manages to be so clever, in "Pictured Knowledge."[34]
[34] In the article in the Nature Department, "What is the It that Rains?"
From what general direction do the winds come that bring the rains in North America? In South America? Why the difference?
How many inches of rainfall are enough for raising good crops?
Nevertheless, they raise fine crops in many parts of the United States where they have hardly any rain at all. How do they manage it? I mean how do they store up the water and distribute it, and everything? (Irrigation.)
In reading up on deserts in the encyclopedias alone you will find many such interesting things as the following, and in other books—particularly books of travel—much more:
How long the commercial caravans are (such great freight trains as those that cross the Sahara between Morocco and Timbuctoo); how many camels one driver takes care of; how fast the camels travel; how many days they can go without a drink.