Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-30
KITE-FIGHTS IN INDIA.
A POPULAR PAsTIME AMONG THE
BOYS OF HINDosTAN.

How Fighting Kites Arc Made--Amount
of Thread Consumed--various Kinds of
SIotion-Cutting an Antag gonist's Thread
--An Delight In the Game.
In India there, are shops where they sell
kites very cheap; so very few people make
them at home. Besides, it wants fine
and praticed hand to make the thin, we'll
balanced fighting kites. They are made
of one (square) shape, but of various sizes,
the smallest being eight inches square and
the largest two feet square The most
common and useful ones are foot square.
Very thin but strong paper resembling
tissue or cigarette paper, of all colors, is
used for the purpose. But whether the
kite is made Of one or different pieces Of
paper, it must be of the same thickness
throughout. The backbone is a straight
fiat, strong, we'll finished lath, and the
bow is made out of cane or piece Of
plant wood half as thick as the back
bone, round and knotless. The latter
must be of equal thickness and weight
throughout its whole length, as on it
mainly depends the balance Of the kite.
The tail, which is merely a finish or an
ornament, is triangular or round, meas
uring only two or three inches at the
longest.
THE THREAD USED.
Strong card thread Is used to fly kites
with. The English manufacturers would
be surprised to learn the amount Of cotton
thread consumed in India for this pur-
pose; one lad using as much as 10000
yards in the course OF year. Silken
thread is also used, though rarely. The
knots joining the pieces being made fine,
smooth, and strong, the whole length Of
the thread is drawn through a mixture of
fine pounded glass and light starch,
which give 1t keen edge. The dried
thread, which is now ready for fighting
purposes, is then wound up on wooden
frame resembling q spool, Great ingenu-
ity is spent in making this spool or roller
light, useful, and handsome
Next, as to the motion of the kite. Two
pieces exactly equal in length off the
main thread are tied to the kite; one at the
meeting point of the bow and the back
cone; the other, few inches lower to the
backbone only. There are two useful
kinds Of motion besides the ordinary
straight one; the wheeling motion, in
which the kite wheels round and round,
the quivering motion, in which its head
keeps on quivering sideways as it fles up
ward; both being very graceful. A prac-
tical hand can give to the kite either mo-
tion as he pleases. OF course good deal
depends on the proper fastening of th.
kite. If it wheels too much you must
make the lower fastening thread shorter;
or if it leans too much on one side you
should stick piece of paper or fine linen
to the bow on the other side. Similarly
there are other little means to regulate
the motion Of kite.
A in NIL lyarfara oraat c1yil1 and -
tice are required to fight well with kites,
and maneuyering counts a great deal in
paper actions. Sometimes the enemy has
certain advantages over you. For in
stance, his house is higher than yours Qn
India kites are usually flown from the
fiat tops of houses), coin nmanding greater
swoop, or his kite anay be little bigger
than yours, in which case his thread will
have a greater tension. These disadvan-
tages one must learn to counteract; but
these are details.
METHODS OF FIGHTING.
There are two methods of fghtfng-the
pull method and the loose method. In
the former, which is the quicker and
more skillful of the two, you attack the
enemy by leading your kite by. deep
swoop under the other, and then at
judicious time pulling it so fast that your
antagonist will fail to make the point
where your thread touches his loose
enough by letting out his thread
You have a good chance of cut
ting his thread. In the other
method, which is more common,
and which requires great patience and
watchfulness, you lead your kite either
over or under his, AMI then let out the
thread, in which he follows. One has to
be careful in this kind of fight as to which
of the two motions-the wheeling or the
quivering-he gives to the kite at different
times. The chances of winning are in
creased by a keener edge, a favorable
breeze, or other small advantages. One
might think that, everything being equal,
it is mere chance that you will cut the
thread of your rival But in this, as in
many other things which look simple and
seem to depend on chance, good deal OF
cleverness and practice go to make up a
fair victory. An evenly matched fight in
this method lasts long time; l have
often spent two or three hours over it.
And great is the joy of winning. Some
times the kites go SO far that you can
hardly see them or it gets quite dark; in
that case the fight has to end in an un-
satisfactory draw.
With some, kite fighting changes from
a pastime into passion. All work, and
even eating and sleeping, are abandoned
in order to perfect oneself in this art
And great is the excitement which fol-
lows a good fight; sometimes fortunately
it is not common) high wagers are laid on
it. In small towns there are champion
kite-fghters, who devote az much time
and attention to kites as soihe people dc
to boating and wrestling. In ktte-6ying
there is no distinction Of rank, or caste,
or age. The young and the old-all take
an equal delight in it; you do not come
into close contact with other kite fiers,
and, it being an inexpensive game, any
body can indulge in it.--Hindoo Cor. st.
James Gazette.
FaultIess but SouIiess.
A correspondent asks Bill Nye what lie