1736. First year of the reign of Ch'ien Lung. Three-tenths of the land-tax remitted. Eleventh moon, twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth days, earthquakes. 1739. Drought and floods. 1740. Land-tax remitted and public granaries opened. 1741. Seventh moon. A comet came from the west and did not fade till the twelfth moon. Great harvests. 1743. On the festival of the Ninth of the Ninth Moon a strange fish came ashore near Weihaiwei. Its head was like a dog's, its belly like a sea-turtle's. Its tail was six _ch'ih_ long [say seven English feet] and at the end were three pointed prongs. On its back was a smaller fish, about ten inches long, which seemed to be made of nothing but spikes and bones. No one knew the name of either fish. It was suggested that perhaps the smaller one had fastened itself to the big one, and that the latter, unable to bear the pain of the small one's spikes, had dashed for the shore. 1747. Seventh moon, fifteenth day. Great storm: crops ruined. 1748. Locusts hid the sun and demolished the crops. 1749. Tenth moon, twenty-second day. Great storm and many drowned. 1751-2. Floods. Crops damaged by water and a hailstorm. Many died of starvation. Assistance given by Government, by the importation of grain from Manchuria. 1753. Good harvests. 1761. Great snowfall. Many geese and ducks frozen to death. 1765. Second moon, eleventh day: earthquake. Sixth moon: great floods, land flooded, houses destroyed, people injured. 1766. Great drought. 1767. Third moon, twenty-first day: great storm, trees uprooted and houses destroyed. Sixth moon, twentieth day: earthquake. 1769. Autumn, a comet. 1770. Seventh moon, twenty-ninth day. In the evening the north quarter of the sky became red as if on fire. 1771. Sixth moon. Continuous rain from second to ninth days. Crops ruined; famine. 1774. Second moon, second day: great storm which made the sands fly and the rocks roll, burst open houses and uprooted trees. Heaven and earth became black. Eighth moon: locusts. 1775. Summer, great drought. Eighth moon, seventeenth day: earthquake. 1783. From first to sixth moon, no rain; food excessively dear. 1785. Eighth moon, tenth day. Earthquake. 1790. Tenth moon, sixth day. Earthquake. 1791. Tenth moon, ninth day. Earthquake. 1796. First moon, second day. A sound like thunder rolled from north-east to south-west. 1797. Eleventh moon, second day. "Heaven's drum" was heard. 1801. Fourth moon. A star was seen in the north, of fiery red colour; it went westward, and was like a dragon. Summer and autumn, great drought: all grass and trees withered. Famine in winter. 1802. Tenth moon. Wheat eaten by locusts. 1803. Great snowfall. 1807. Seventh moon. Comet seen in the west, dying away in the tenth moon. Good harvests. 1810. Floods. In spring, devastation was caused by wolves.