Show ay aging 0 E E T I 1 N G 1 5 F 2 0 5 R pi I 1 E I 1 it elder ellis christensen writes from offiel of tahitian mis 51 sion on A glimpse of conditions in the society islands is given in an interest ing letter written to the reaper by elder ellis jr christensen son of mr and mis C P christensen Christens cn of our city and now laboring in 1 I papette Pa peete one of the islands in the society ty group the letter latte wilf vilf undoubtedly be so in tei esting to ill all our readers that we ve give it here in full december 1 15 illy dear dr daikus the christmas season has arrived again with its reminders of home and friends and the feeling of brotherly biot herly love jove towards one another NN which christ established heie on earth arid and I 1 am taking this opportunity to thank you for your remembrance ance of me luring during any sojourn in this foreign land I 1 certainly do appreciate the reaper I 1 with 1 r iu t brn bri 0 r out zi io things which are so dear to me of the happenings jr in old seiler and I 1 anxiously i wait for every mail day aich conic once a a month until I 1 can take time to get myself and tho the reaper into a corner arid and read and think about the things which are happening in the land arid I 1 love the best it seems only esterday yeste este iday since I 1 left but I 1 lead of improvements and happenings which show me that the city and county are progressing progress ine until they chev will be strange st iange ange to me when I 1 sebirn the I 1 giester M eater portion of the past ear I 1 have h ave spent in papette Pa peete but I 1 have also taken several sea voyages voya es TO the other islands in this group which I 1 have been rich in nce ani ami 1 scenery which is not to be found in any other place on earth on one trip I 1 visited in an island composed almost entsiel of phosphate here I 1 saw paw hundreds of slaves diggin gout the dirt and loading it onto car cars for transportation to the coast 4 you ou may mav be surprised I 1 say slaves aves hut fut such they iball are they come from indochina and are under bondage for five years after w which I 1 i cai tile they are to be given their fr freedom oni practically all of the w work or is done by land hand for the transportation to the coast which is accomplished by tuo to small trains the only ones in the society islands at the coast the dirt is run through a drier and taken by means of small mail motor boats to the ships which call filin all parts of the world in order to obtain the lie basic element for fertilizers the island is not a large one yet it is one of the most interesting of the group rising almost perpendicular from the ocean for two hun tiled feet and then going down doin into a sort ort of shallow volcanic like crater which aich is pe perhaps three miles in diameter here heie also I 1 visited several caves which seem to gro go down clown into the bowels of the earth and which Iii cli have salt water in them which rises and falls with the tides in one of these caves we found an old burying ground of the people who lived in that section before the white men came to this part of the just recently I 1 returned from an island to the south of tahiti where the first island mission of the church was vas established here I 1 lived with the natives for about two months eating as they ate cross legged on 1 the floor with no spoons knives or 01 folks except what nhat nature had given to us arid and eating the food which they took from the soil anti and the ocean it was certainly a novel experience and fi one which nearly made a genuine na tive five out of me ine a as my choches waie out and I 1 was wa unable crabl to get e h han any more mccause cause of the failure of a itei miep P to arrive T ve at the island I 1 found tile T these people very poor in worldly goo ds but they Y ere e a humble anil and P rabb rab bOV gol god fearing fearin people whom I 1 learned to above ta ua e without so s many of the adorn c comin 0 I 1 u 1511 of civilization as we are used ii ed t their 1 lt i r va 3 seeing i in m other countries tile the EI ell since my arrival here I 1 have dav ed a great clime change take tage place airl among ong 0 lj J the le people in the surroundings they i aie both loang losing many of their prim 1 tive live bics tics and be becoming conling more ilore like the te I 1 lace ace and the white 01 0 ma mans ils country ali there re used to T le but affe afe cars we rio now see mau i the slip sli asare binl improving roving with new nev ail and i bitter cri engines gines instead of tie the sails aili and ft 1 few of them alave ilave have uen ien installed install eli wireless vi to kae keep 6 in better ol 01 uc vilh vil etli h ah tn outside woi ld many main of 11 ai aie e discarding dise arding to a degree at faast dabir old native cu cooms orns and an I 1 adopting ac those of the european o w rr pik S u Z ivi are a re no not t alwaes for there n VS arid and 13 rendered bendere their otheir parts well ala okin ng g forward fo rivard to christmas and r lc it e extremely tre niely they happy nor N or did their Ip end for ve old sarita santa on Chiist christmas mas i appeared upon the cene bringing with him hill lots of toys lor I 1 or many happy returns and plenty of noise tile the Y M ill and Y L M 1 I as is c intsons entertained the people with i intern ting program it was a incest between betwee li the tuo org aniza an rig judges were chosen cl loeri to decide i kiich 1 ich was the most entertaining tl staining ita ining the t cislon was vas in favor of the Y L M A by two points the r men however were not olto j lowers for some of them had h cl a out in the rabbit hunt a couple days davs before side were chosen id each man mail in town played liis his rt A eliere were around rabbits lied in all the winners winner count was I 1 5 1 and til th losers the id id for foi tc jance that evening evenin I 1 aa A rig riff for f Y a te oil well has been aced anthe the land be belon lonine ginz to wal coleman at teasdale work com coin axed january 3 on putting it in N |