A slender cord, therefore, like that they were obliged to make, required to be faultless--else the life of some one of them might be sacrificed while attempting the ascent.
With a foreknowledge of this, it is hardly necessary to say that Ossaroo did his best in the manufacture of that rope--every strand of it being twisted between his index finger and his thumb, as smoothly and evenly as if he had been spinning it for a fishing-line.
The framework of the kite was made out of split culms of the ringall bamboo; which, on account of its strength, elasticity, and lightness, was far superior for the purpose to any species of exogenous wood; while the glue for laying on the paper was procured from the root of an arum-- grated, and then boiled into a glutinous starch.
In about a week after the notion of a kite had been "hatched" in the brain of Caspar, the bird itself might have been seen outside the door of the hut--full-fledged and ready for flight!.