George Leslie Mackay

Rev. Dr. George Leslie Mackay (1844-1901, 馬偕 or 偕叡理) was the first missionary commissioned to Formosa by the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

He left San Francisco for China on 1st November 1871 and it took him nearly two months to arrive in Takow (now Kaohsiung) on 29th December, during which he also visited Yokohama, Hong Kong, Canton, Swatow (in which he met Rev. George Smith), Kit-yang [揭陽?], and landed Tamsui on 9th March 1872.

Reading on board. It is very interesting for me, as a cultural historian, to look at his two-month voyage on which he kept reading works about China and the Chinese intensively and extensively. Below are some excerpts from his recently published diaries.

3 Nov (Fri) 1871: Read Mr. Williams' [?] Years in China [?] (1)

6 Nov (Mon): Read "Observations on China and the Chinese" by N.L.S. Smith. (1)

7 Nov (Tue): Finished reading "China and the Chinese" and began "Social life of the Chinese" by Rev. Justus Doolittle. (2)

9 Nov (Thurs): Read away at "Social life amongst the Chinese (?) (2)

10 Nov (Fri): Still kept reading Doolittle's work. (2)

11 Nov (Sat): Read Nevius on China, also Doolittle. (2)

15 Nov (Wed): Read Doolittles 2nd vol. (2)

17 Nov (Fri): Began to Read 'Middle Kingdom' by S. Wells. Williams. (3)

20 Nov (Mon): Read 'Middle Kingdom'. (3)

21 Nov (Tue): Read Dr. Speer's 'China and the United States?" (3)

24 Nov (Fri): Read 'Visit to China' by Rev. Geo. Smith. (3)

1 Dec (Fri): The roughest day on our voyage -- ate no food, read no books, and Simply vomited - (4)

5 Dec (Tue): Hong Kong. Very early in the morning entered between land on each side. Winding Serpent-like and at 8. A.M. saw the British flag away up on the top of a Peak, Soon entered broad Sheet of Water surrounded by hills. also houses rising in rows above each other on the side of a high hill. Hong-Kong at last. Went below and thanked God for His care and goodness. Went ashore. Met a man Dr. Eitel who asked "Are you Mackay?" (5)

6 Dec (Wed): Remained all night with Dr. Eitel the man who accosted me on the Street yesterday. It seems Dr. Maxwell told him to be on the lookout for me -- At 8 A.M. took steamer for Canton... (5)

8 Dec (Fri): ...arrived in Hong Kong. Went to the German Mission. Saw 40 girls who sang "There is a happy" (5)

Upon arriving in Formosa:

25 Jan 1872: ...Went over sections of MacGowan's book - (English and Chinese dictionary of the Amoy dialects 1883) [? then he frequently drilled on MacGowan] (11-12)

5 May 1873, he wrote "up to this date from the day I landed at Tamsui I gave medicines to one thousand and twenty three (1,023)." (82)

Source: Mackay's Diaries : original English version, 1871-1901 (馬偕日記英文版, 1871-1901年) (Taipei: Altheia University (真理大學), 2007. Trans. & eds. by Reestablishing Committee of Mackay's Diaries, Neng-che Yeh, Chih-Rung Chen, etc.).