Chapter VII—From Hong-kong to Yokohama. 
FTER a pleasant sojourn among the hospitable residents of Hong-kong, we 
commenced the third year of our cruise on the 6th January, 1875. Before the 
day was over, our good ship was once more breasting the high seas raised by 
the north-east monsoon. The soundings obtained on the 8th showed that the 
China Sea, the western and southern portions of which are very shallow, 
attains in its north-eastern part a depth of over 2000 fathoms, forming a separate hollow like 
the seas of Sulu, Celebes, and Banda. The decrease of temperature was observed to cease at 
a depth of 1000 fathoms, so that a channel of about that depth, probably situated directly 
south of Formosa, establishes a deep-sea communication 
between the China Sea and the Western Pacific. During 
our stay in Hong-kong a typhoon had swept this sea, 
and on the afternoon of the 10th we fell in with one of 
its victims, a dismantled and abandoned vessel, rigged 
with a jury mast, and remnants of sails and ropes 
hanging over her side. Her name was the “ Santa 
Maria,” of about 100 tons, probably a Philippine coasting 
craft; but nothing was found on her to give a clue to 
the port whence she had sailed, so taking the wreck in 
tow, we entered Manilla harbour in the course of the nth. 
Once more, while watching the sun setting behind 
the Sierra de Mariveles, I heard the distant boom of the 
Cathedral bell quivering through the evening air. The 
“ Challenger ” was the first ship to bring the news of 
the accession of Alfonso XII.—proclaimed King on the the cathedral, Manilla. 
30th December, 1874—to his distant subjects in the Philippines, whereupon they probably 
patched up without delay the hole in the flag surmounting the old fort of Ilo-Ilo. We paid 
