From Far Formosa
The Island, its People and Missions

In this 1896 work, George Mackay (1844–1901) describes his experiences during many years of living in Formosa (now Taiwan).

George Leslie Mackay (Author), J. A. Macdonald (Edited by)

9781108037723, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 November 2011

392 pages, 16 b/w illus. 4 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.2 cm, 0.49 kg

First published in 1896 and based on extracts from diaries, notes and reports, this work, edited by J. A. Macdonald, tells of the nearly three decades that George Mackay (1844–1901) spent on the island of Formosa (now Taiwan). In 1872 the Canadian Presbyterian priest arrived in northern Taiwan and set up a new missionary station. Within a month of his arrival he had made his first convert, a Chinese named Giam Chheng Hoa. Mackay married a local woman, with whom he had three children, and made numerous trips around the island, founded a hospital and established a college. He also gathered specimens of local fauna and flora that formed the cornerstone of a museum. Mackay offers vivid descriptions of Formosan geography, culture and animal life; his interpretation of the syncretic 'heathenism' of Formosa as a 'dark damning nightmare' is characteristic of the Western viewpoint of his time.

Editorial preface
Introductory: 1. Early years of the author
2. At Princeton and Edinburgh
3. Toronto to Tamsui
4. First view of Formosa
The Island: 5. Geography and history
6. Geology
7. Trees, plants, and flowers
8. Animal life
9. Ethnology in outline
Among the Chinese: 10. The people
11. Government and justice
12. Industrial and social life
13. Chinese religious life
14. Beginnings of mission work
15. The first native preacher and his church
16. Establishing churches
17. How Bang-Kah was taken
18. Touring in the north
19. The Waiting Isles
20. The coming of the French
The Conquered Aborigines: 21. Pe-Po-Hoan characteristics
22. Rice-farming in Formosa
23. Mission work among the Pe-Po-Hoan
24. A trip down the east coast
25. A Sek-Hoan mission
26. Life among the Lam-Si-Hoan
The Mountain Savages: 27. Savage life and customs
28. With the head-hunters
At Headquarters: 29. A sketch of Tamsui
30. Training a native ministry
31. Oxford College
32. Native workers for native women
33. Medical work and the hospital
34. Foreigners and the missions
35. With the English Presbyterians
36. Retrospect and prospect
Index.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]