in that it is very small, being only about twenty inches long by fourteen
wide. Besides, instead of being flat on the frame, the Cho-senese kite is
arched, which feature is said by the natives to give it a much greater
flying capacity.

The string is wound round a framework of wood attached to a stick, which
latter revolves in the hands or is stopped at the will of the person who
flies the kite. It is generally during the north winds that the kites are
flown, and it is indeed a curious thing during those days to watch
regular competitions, fights, and battles being fought among these paper
air-farers. As soon as the kite is raised from the ground and started in
the orthodox way, the tactics used by the Corean boy in his favourite
amusement become most interesting. He lets it go until it has well caught
the wind, and by sudden jerks given to it in a funny way, knocking and
clapping the thread-wheel on his left knee, he manages to send the kite
up to a very great height. Hundreds and hundreds of yards of string are
often used. When high enough, sailing gaily along among hundreds of other
kites, it is made to begin warlike tactics and attack its nearest
neighbour. Here it is that the Corean shows his greatest skill in
manoeuvring his flying machine, for by pulls, jerks, and twists of the
string he manages to make his kite rise or descend, attack its enemy or
retreat according to his wish. Then as you break your neck watching them,
you see the two small squares of paper, hundreds of yards above you in
mid-air, getting closer to one another, advancing and retreating, as
would two men fighting a duel; when, suddenly, one takes the offensive,
charges the other, and by a clever _coup de main_ makes a rent in it,
thus dooming it to a precipitous fall to the earth. Thus victorious, it
proudly proceeds to attack its next neighbour, which is immediately made
to respond to the challenge; but this time kite number three, whose
leader has profited by the end of kite number two, keeps lower down than