The simpler variety is merely a long wooden
tube about three inches in diameter and shaped very much like a gun
projectile, with a cone of tin dragging behind to give steadiness. It
is for use only when the wind is blowing in exactly the direction in
which it is designed to send a message or carry a rope. It will be
observed that, in a large number of cases when ships are driven on
rocks, the wind is blowing toward the shore, and in such cases a
line of kites would readily carry one of these buoys ashore with the
important words inside or the still more important rope following
after.

Not satisfied, however, with this buoy, Professor Davis sought some
means of making kites draw a load across the water in any direction
desired, regardless of the way the wind might be blowing; and, after
much thought and calculation, he hit upon what is now known as the
Davis buoy, an object that has become familiar to dwellers at Bergen
Point and Port Richmond, from the frequent experiments on the Kill
that have been carried on during the past year. This form of buoy is
much larger than the other, being three or four feet in length; and
its essential feature is a deep iron keel that projects below out of
the block of wood forming the body. It is evident that this keel will
tend to keep the buoy headed in any given direction; and stability of
position is further assured by the presence of guy-ropes attached to
the main line of the kite. Each buoy is provided with three of these
ropes, which, by being lengthened or shortened, may cause the buoy to
form any desired angle with the kite-cord, and to keep it. Professor
Davis has entirely succeeded in making the kites drag the buoy along
the water in various directions in the very strongest gales--in fact,
under precisely the conditions that would assist when the buoys would
be needed for life-saving service from wrecks. And he is positive
that, with further experiment, he will be able, by moving along the
shore until a tacking angle is reached, not only to send lines, food,
or messages to a disabled vessel from the shore, but to bring back
by the same kites and the same buoy other lines and messages from the
people in distress.

Considering the important offices of which it has already been
proved capable, and the possibility which these suggest of many other
practical applications, it is clear that the kite is no longer to
be regarded as simply a toy. And this, in turn, suggests anew the