The Black Bearded Barbarian (and no I don't mean James!)

Those of Canadian heritage should find this quite interesting. I was reading through my Taipei travel guide that my friend Emma gave me and stumbled across this short note at the bottom of a section about Danshui. It refers to a Canadian by the name of George Leslie Mackay who was a Presbyterian missionary on the island. It says:

"George Leslie Mackay (1844 - 1901) was born in Ontario, Canada. At the age of 28, he was commissioned as the first foreign missionary of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. He set up his mission station in Danshui, where he stayed for the rest of his life. Besides his evangelistic efforts, he was a dentist and educator and despite being given the moniker "black bearded barbarian" by the locals, he was well respected for his medical work and benevolence. An important figure in Danshui's history, his legacy includes a nursing school, hospital, college, and an ethnography entitled From Far Formosa: The Island, Its People and Missions."
(Insight City Guide - Taipei)

What a neat little paragraph to find! We've not explored Danshui yet but we have two friends from work who live there. Danshui is located on the mouth of the Danshui River and was the site of early Western colonisation by the Spanish and the Dutch. Danshui means 'fresh water' and was a vital watering stop for those ships sailing to Hong Kong, Japan and the US. 
        


Danshui Harbour


http://becoming-beautiful.com/2012/04/travelling-taiwan-danshui-old-street-%E6%B7%A1%E6%B0%B4%E8%80%81%E8%A1%97-and-keko-fishball-restuarant-%E6%B7%A1%E6%B0%B4%E5%8F%AF%E5%8F%A3%E9%AD%9A%E4%B8%B8/



For those who are interested you can purchase Mackay's book on Amazon Kindle for £5.12 which sounds like an absolute bargain to me. I shall report back once I've started reading it. 

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