eviii Proceedings of the Asiatic Soc. of Bengal. [N.S., XVII, 
To overcome this disadvantage in India, a recorder 
strument at its lower end, and a sail at its upper end, is 
mounted to run on small wheels upon the kite-wire and is blown 
up it by the wind; when it has reached the kite, the sail is 
automatically detached and thrown away by a disengaging 
device actuated on impact between a trigger at the front end 
of the boom and an obstacle plate which has been fixed on 
the wire immediately below the kite just before its liberation. 
Fie ll. 
away its sail on impact, and returning downwards by its own 
- Work with kites is expensive however, considering 
that the heights accessible by their means are very limited and 
dependent on weather, and for these reasons attention has for 
some years been directed to the use of cheaper methods of solv- 
ing the problems in hand by the employment of free balloons 
