Airships past and present, together with chapters on the use of balloons in connection with meteorology, photography and the carrier pigeon . s kind than in a dirigibleballoon. i 2 CHAPTEE X. KITES. The kite was probably invented at least 200 years before thebirth of Christ, and seems at that time to have been used formilitary purposes. The Chinese general, Han Sin, brought his forces to the relief of abeleaguered town, andby means of kites he issaid to have signalledto the inhabitants,showing them the direc-tion in which he wasmaking an under-ground passage intothe town. The peculi-arities of
Airships past and present, together with chapters on the use of balloons in connection with meteorology, photography and the carrier pigeon . s kind than in a dirigibleballoon. i 2 CHAPTEE X. KITES. The kite was probably invented at least 200 years before thebirth of Christ, and seems at that time to have been used formilitary purposes. The Chinese general, Han Sin, brought his forces to the relief of abeleaguered town, andby means of kites he issaid to have signalledto the inhabitants,showing them the direc-tion in which he wasmaking an under-ground passage intothe town. The peculi-arities of kites musttherefore have beenunderstood at Some 800 yearslater another Chinesegeneral used them tohelp him to effect ajunction with his was besieged in thetown of King-Thai, andsent out a number ofkites with a requestfor speedy relief, the position of the kites showing the most con-venient side of the town for an attack. In later years the Englishand the Spaniards are said to have used them for similar made enquiries as to their use in Japan. It appears 1 Lccornu, Les Cerfs-Volants, Paris, Fig. 68.—The Japanese May Carp.(From the Ilhistrierte Aeronautische Mitteilungen, 1905.) KITES. 117 that a fish-shaped kite, called a May carp, is hoisted on thetops of the houses on May 5th, if the father of the family has beenblessed with a son during the preceding year. This takes placeduring the observance of the May festival, which was founded about500 Curiously enough, a very similar device has been invented
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