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One of the jobs that elephants are used for is hauling, lifting, and loading the heavy logs of teak. I thought I should like to have an elephant myself, so I bought a nice one and brought it all the way home. There it is on my table now. It’s made of bronze.
Stretching down from Thailand like an elephant’s trunk is a long peninsula known as the Malay Peninsula. Just about half a mile offshore from the top of this “trunk” is a bit of an island called Singapore. It was at one time nothing but a jungle in which poisonous snakes and terrible tigers lurked. The owner tried to give it away to get rid of it and couldn’t. Later, however, he sold it to an Englishman named Raffles for almost nothing, and England built a city there. Why do you suppose England wanted such a place at all? Because this spot was another gateway for ships going east or west. There is, as you will see, a narrow passageway between the islands, and this was the only good way for ships to go. Just as in the case of Gibraltar, Suez, and Aden, England wanted to control it. In World War II the Japanese captured Singapore, not with ships fromthe sea, but with soldiers from the land side of the city. When the Japanese were finally beaten in the war,England again took control of Singapore. Singapore is now one of the most important stopping-places for ships, and in the lobby of the great hotel called “Raffles” you may now see people from all nations of the earth.
