The evening times., 1895-10-10
FoRMosAR MISSION WORK
DR.. Mackay's Uncomfortable Experience as
a Teacher Among Sa7ages.
Beginning as a Stranger Preaching
the Gospel. He Is Now Sow
ereign in a Land OF Mystery.

| sail from Vancouver one of the strangest
! and most remarkable white men who ever
set foot on Chinese soil. 1t is the Rev
| ]. L. Mackay. for twenty-tllree years
| Christian missionary to the widest heathens
on earth The clergyman is accompanied
| by his wife, native Formosan, and by
their three children, Master George VIII
/ lam and Misses Bella Katie and Mary Helen.
The missionary will revisit tue land Of
his birth He came back to civilization
for the sole purpose OF seeing his native
Canada once more. eedless to say
| that his arrival in the Dominion with
his native wife and three beautiful chill
| dren proved a sensation i'll religious circles
| In far Formosa, the return OF DR.. Mackay
| is eagerly awaited by the whole popuia-
ton of that Chinese island. An elaborate
| public reception is to be accorded him there
and every Formosan dignitary is to take
part in what is practically recognition
that the island is now Christian state
as a result of the generation of labor of
| one man.
Tie adventures of this missionary. 1t Is
supcrfiuous to say, have been more ex-
travagant than those of Robinson Crusoe
and Gil Bias put together. When he ar
rived in the and he was the only white man
within miles and miles. Nr was ignorant
OF the language The Chinese hated all
| Christians Plots TO murder him were as
thick a leaves in vaIlombrosa. He began
his work in 1879, a stranger in the land.
| To-day there are in Ii is mission scattered
| throughout North FOrniosa, sixty organ
| lied native churches. four OF them self
supporting; Il living baptised membership
| of 2.T17; communion roll of 1905,
and each one of the sixty churches is min
| istered TO by trained native preacher.
| At Tanisin he has established oxford Col
lcge. with fifteen students in training for
! the ministry.
| my work began at Tamsiu," said the
| MISSIONARY. speaking of his first days
in FormoSa, Il was alone, without an
! Interpreter, and among those who hated
and despised the barbarian What 1
had already picked up of the Chinese
| language l must now utilize or submit to
being imposed upon. After four days 1
| succeeded in renting Chinese house
that was intended to be used for horse
stable by military mandarius. For this
| building / agreed to pay fifteen dollars a
month. II was filthy place. The Brit
y
| Chinese gave NE an old pewter lamp
Thus the beginning. The home to which
the doctor is now returning is that of a
| gentleman and his neighbors are gentle
men, too, even il they be Formosans The
island is really as civilized as Japan and
we need feel 10 surprise therefore at the
| recent attempt to declare it an inde-
pendent republic. The missionary has bot
ola %,
Dkewise made up of Formosans and scien-
| Iific societies of the same membership
| He is even a colonel. in what may be
| termed a Formosan militia and drills the
| natives in regimcntal tactics with the idea
| OF subduing their taste for the hi.eous
form of native warfare and allowing their
| surplus energy to assert itself in defense
| of the villa Ees against wild piratical
hordes and heather despoilers from the
| mainland.
| Among the Lam-si -hoan savages in the
| tracklcsS ki-lai plain. the doctor has made
| himself warmly esteemed. Those won
| drous people have rarely seen a white
| man, unless perhaps he was roasted on the
| dinner table They were subdued by the
| Chinese, but remained savage in their
| tastes until the advent of DR. Mackay
| through whose influence they have in
large numbers been Christianized. The
| doctor began by living among them in the
| hardest privation, studying their language
and never nanifestng the smallest dis
| trust OF their good faith. His method
| gained upon them almost from the first.
| These tribes are known as the black flags
They live in the mountains of Formosa
| They have drilled head hunters who more
| than once lay in wait for the black bea rded
barbarian" as the doctor came to be ca lied
| in their dialect This was before he had
come into personal contact with these
| fierce savages. DR.. Mackay is the only
| white man who has ever had an opportunity
| or Conversing with the weird people.
| Inc picture herewith Is from the only
| photograph OF them ever taken
apart from the purely religious feature
OF the doctors labors, he has made re-
| hiarkabie discoveries in relation TO the
| geology, botany and zoology of Fornosa,
and also with reference to the ethnology
| or Its Inhabitants. The doctors private
| library and museum at his native home
| nave for years been n source of interest
TO scientists all over the world, and his
marvellous collection has always been at
| p'S iiee CtsIoSal OF tnUSe who wished
| specimens His notes have been in demand
! at all meetings of scientific societies. and
there is no higher living authority ON al,
| subjects connected with the island
| Not, indeed, that he has had an oppor-
| tunty 10 Go literary work. although no
has written the book. From Far Forrnosa.
| but 1t has not yet appeared. 1t is a mine
| OF information, very naturally. 1t will
| probably be published this November
| Apart from literary and scientific labors,
| the missionary has managed to cultivate
| the refinements of life and to disseminate
| knowledge OF them among the wonderful
| people by whom he is surrounded
| 1t may surprise American Christians TO
| learn that heather Formosa is rich in
| church buildings. devoted to the worship
| of Jesus Christ. There are many more in
| process of construction. The standard of
education in the island is really very high.
| The very character of the deniorstrat ion
| awaiting the doctor on his arrival in the
| island is the very best evidence of this The
| doctor himself is probably the best known
| man in the whole place. His marriage to
| a native lady and his complete affiliat ton
| with the people are of course largely instru-
| mental in his success
The conventional idea of the foreign mis-
| sionary is now largely tinged by lurid ac-
| counts of nassacres by Chinese. The i'm
preston would seem to be inevitable that
| Celestals are avcrsc 10 all Cbristia nizing
| influences. But here we have n large and
| integral part of the Chinese empire eagerly
awaiting the arrival of n missionary for