religious excitement during this period by the appearance in the harbour (January 22, 1874) of a large junk fitted up as a floating temple for the worship of three large idols. The vessel, known as 'the spiritual junk,' was visited daily by thousands of worshippers admitted on payment of a fee. Finding the business extremely profitable, the proprietors hired the Tunghing Theatre where the idols were exhibited and worshippers admitted on payment of 15 cash a person. As the matter was thus plainly a financial speculation, the Registrar General (C. C. Smith), with the approval of the leading Chinese merchants, interfered on the ground that the theatre was not licensed for religious purposes and the proprietors were fined $15 in the Police Court.
There was annually during this period the usual number of conflagrations in the town, but since 1875 their frequency appeared to increase. Yet none of these conflagrations extended beyond the destruction of two, or at the utmost six, houses at a time. But quite a number of vessels were on fire within two years. The Peruvian ship Columbia was burned in the harbour (February 15, 1871) and the Pacific mail-steamer Japan was destroyed by fire at sea, in close proximity to Hongkong (December 18, 1874), causing the death of a large number of Chinese passengers. The S.S. Panay (August 30, 1875), the coalship Pilgrim (September 20, 1875) and a Chinese junk laden with hay (November, 3, 1875) were on fire in the harbour in one and the same year. In the one year 1874, three ships were wrecked at or near Hongkong. The S.S. Wanlung, built in Hongkong, capsized (February 13, 1874) on her first trip with passengers to Canton, within a few minutes after leaving the wharf, when some 30 lives were lost in the harbour. The S.S. Mongol was lost on a rock near Cape D'Aguilar when 17 persons were drowned (December 12, 1874), and the S.S. Japan ran on a rock, near Wantsai, in the harbour (December 17, 1874). Several collisions occurred during this period. The barque Glimt was sunk in harbour in consequence of a collision with the S.S. Geelong but was successfully raised again (March,
