Many difficulties beset explorers in wild countries. Much time has to be devoted to the journey; transport of supplies, hostility of natives, progress through jungles, marshes, and rivers impede the traveller. Long sojourns and hard work in hot and unhealthy climates, or extreme cold, all present great difficulties. There is, however, one high road which leads unobstructed to all parts — the air. An aeronaut, seated in the car of a balloon, floats along above all impediments and obstructions, travelling day and night at the speed of the wind, and with an extensive view of all the country below. But there are two practical difficulties to be overcome. First, the ordinary free balloon must travel wherever the wind chooses to take it, and that may be in any but the desired direction; secondly, no free balloon has as yet ever remained up longer than a day or two.

Since the paper on the possibility of soaring in horizontal wind was read, no efforts have been spared to determine the essential features of curved surfaces that are of any practical utility to aeronautics, and the model shown in Fig. 1 embodies what is known to date. The poles and horizontal cord have been found a most useful method of experimenting ; indeed, it may safely be said that without them the trifling amount of available wind would have been quite inadequate to find out anything new. As suggestions to those who wish to advance this matter rapidly, it may be stated that the wind near the ground is comparable to the surf on the sea shore, which all will admit is not suitable for testing the sailing capacity of yachts or boats. To utilize wind from all directions, a platform of wire netting should be placed in a situation like the top of the shearlegs on Garden Island.

Just outside of the city, about a mile from the old Lee home, at Arlington, Va., the Weather Bureau has established a kite farm, and is making experiments in the use of kites for weather observations. This aerial observation station is one of sixteen under the direction of the Bureau. Others are located at Cincinnati, Omaha, Topeka, Knoxville, Pierre S. D., Duluth, Cleveland, Cairo Ill., Sault de St. Marie, and Little Rock. Professor C. F. Marvin, who is in charge of this work, believes that valuable results can be obtained by the kite observation system, and Has invented a number of devices for handling and managing the immense kites used at the Arlington station. One drawback to the use of kites has been the difficulty of controlling the big seven-foot affairs employed to carry the observing and recording instruments used in meteorological work. To cope with this difficulty Professor Marvin has built a new kite controlling machine, which makes it possible for one person standing before the reel to have within reach all the controlling handles, and to read the dials showing the amount of line run out, the pulling power of the kite, its elevation, distance, and electric connections.