d 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
his adversary, gets round him in a clever way, and when the strings meet,
by a hard pull cuts that of kite number one, which, swinging slowly in
the air, and now and then revolving round itself in the air, gently
descends far away from its owner, and is quickly appropriated by some
poor kiteless child, who perhaps has been in company with many fellows,
watching and pining for hours for such a happy moment. Pieces of broken
glass are often tied to the string at intervals, being of great help in
cutting the adversary's cord.

The people of Cho-sen seem to take as much interest in kite-flying as the
Britisher does in racing. The well-grown people bet freely on the
combatants, and it is not an uncommon thing for the excitement to reach
such a pitch that the battle begun in mid-air terminates with sound blows
in less aerial regions.

It is quaint to see rows of children with their little red jackets,
standing on the high walls of the city, spending hours in this favourite
amusement. They