Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-13
KITES IN PORTO RICO
They Furnish Plenty of Amusement for
Young and Old.
Account of a Battle Royal in the Air
Strings Are Armed With
hniveR.
From the New York Sum

From the New York Sun.
On the long slopes Of brilliant green grass
that stretch away from the walls Of Girls
tobal Colon and dwindle down into the city
of San Juan, a great crowd of curious and
noisy men, women and children stand every
morning, gesticulating half madly at one
another, talking very fast and occasionally
breaking up into little groups, more ex-
cited than the rest. Above their heads
there is always fiotilla OF big kites, duck
ing, diving. floating upward and perform
ing queer tricks as they firt and play with
the ocean wind biliowing inward from the
southern sea
One great red paper monster darted swift
ly upward above the others on one occa-
sion. Then shout went up from the
crowd. 1t seemed to be having a race with
blue one sailing dangerously near. A
hundred trembling arms with outstretched
fingers were raised frantically in the air.
shaking five and ten peso notes. offering
bets on the red. The champions of the
blue made verbal pools, and SO the betting
went on, amid tremendous excitement, more
noticeable than a public demonstration in
honor of the governor general.
Suddenly the flyer of the blue, dirty lit
tie Catanian, unwound several yards Of
string that guided his airship. Its tail was
long, striped like the hide of zebra, and
loaded with strips of cardboard all along
Heated from the edges of the kite and the
end of the tail, for this Porto Rican was a
diplomat, like his brothers. And when he
unwound the guiding lever, at once the blue
shot up, huddled close beside the red for
a moment, and then at once, with an in
comprehensive movement, it darted across
the face OF its antagonist and in mo-
ment the latter was floating downward I'M
controllably toward the ground. The
sharp, curved knife with which the blue
was burdened had severed the string of
the red, and the latter had lost and the
victorious kite flew upward like a newly
liberated bird.
The knife is a necessary and legitimate
burden of every kite that enters the betting
ring, and this seems to enhance the I'M
certainty of the sport, and 1t requires
magnificent display of skill to avoid the
blades or to attack an antagonist. The
skill which men and even boys display in
this respect is sometimes almost aStound-
ing.
In a country where cock fighting Is a ma
tional sport and where bull lighting would
be in vogue il the American authorities
would permit, where gambling is the chief
paSume of both men and women, it is some
What surprising that SO mild practice as
kite flying should hold the attention with
the power that 1t does The element of
chance, however, and the right to I'M
limited and unrestricted betting. has car
rled 1t swiftly into popular favor, and so
it remains today.
Vana, was for years the potentate of kites.
He used to sit in the sun there under the
soft blue sky. way up on the hill near old
Cristobal Colon, and he had his colored
paper spread about him, with little heaps
of long, slender sticks carved from the big
redwood tree His pastepot stood beside
him, as he whitfield with long, keen blade
like machete
From the hands of the old Cuban there
has come many a prize winner One was
five feet in height and three feet in width,
and 1t was covered over with the flag Of
Cuba, and it bore itself haughtily in the
wind Its flyer tossed it up from one of
the nat roofs of the CerrO and 1t drew a
crown bigger than a Gomez pa
rade, and ii felt its Importance for it
tuSged hatefully at the string and strug-
gIed with emotional Jerks to be free 1t
was so symbolic of the spirit of Havana
that the mob went wild with cheering and
d little Cuban police officer in the brand
new regulation blue uniform, with silver
decorations, tried to assert his authority
in vain.