Page:Kitecraft and kite tournaments (1914).djvu/67

Chinese centipede kite, Fig. 110, is not so difficult now that we have harnessed the tailless dragon.

Fig. 113.

The Chinese say there should never be more than three strings to bridle or harness; this bridle has two strings to the head of the dragon, and three strings to the harness. The harness consists of the three strings running from one end of the kite to the other. The Chinese dragon kite usually, if not always, has circular disks for the body of the monster. Fig. 111 shows a beautiful kite hung on the wall for decorative purposes and shows the design on the individual sections, while Fig. 112 shows the same kite held by boys on the lawn. The lighter portion on the disk is green with gilt scales, while the darker portion is scarlet. The head is all colors, with red mouth, white teeth, eyes that revolve with little mirrors thereon to flash the sunlight. The framework for the head is shown in Fig. 113. While the framework for each circular disk, Fig. 114, is just a band of bamboo, with a light strip of bamboo to which the peacock feathers are attached as balancers, the disks are covered with Chinese paper and decorated. The disks are 10″ and the balancer sticks 30″. The feathers are lashed to the balancer sticks. The discs are 12″ apart. The last disc has streamers of ribbon or tissue paper. This kite flies well and sways about like an immense brightly colored caterpillar up in the air.

Fig. 114.

The dragon kite, Fig. 115, was very beautiful and flew high in the air. The colors were pink and white. Instead of feathers for balancers, tufts of tissue paper were used. A special balancer was