Show BUI 4 t y 1 Y ti J a t r f al 1 I Planters Planter's Home in Malay St States Prepared by the National Geographic Society Washington D. D C. C HE HB Federated d Malay states T THE on Asias Asia's southernmost peninsula penin sula sub lla have ve been I II literally I t tel e r n a I II l y snatched from flom an un allcon covering all rID wild vegetation Where There once the clicking choking Jungle crowded men back a Jungle so thick that a n man swimming In a n stream could hardly land because vines TInes and plants hugged bugged so close to the waters water's ed edge edge broad broad e-broad broad fiel fields s have ha now b ben beren cn cleared and arid Malaya plantations plantations plan plan- are among the richest In the world Forty five years ago alO a few para pnra rub rubber bet ber plants smuggled out of or RJ Brazil azil fruited Crafted here Today three fourths of the worlds world's rubber comes from this region And nd In this magic de development development develop develop- lop lop- ment Americans have pla played ed a leadIng leading lead lead- Ing role This Malay peninsula stretching hundreds ds of miles from the Siamese frontier down toward the equator forms Corms a aast vast ast humid region of dense forests of Jungle wild elephants snakes and naked people rice fields rubber plantations and tin mines There Is a governmental go mixture inthis in inthis Inthis this region Singapore built on a tiny green Isle of the same name which lies Just o off t the end of the peninsula and nearly on the equator Is the cap ital of the British crown co ny commonly commonly com com- called d the he Straits Settlements This colony embraces the Province of Wellesley the and Malacca on the mainland and the Islands of and Singapore The Federated Malay states on the peninsula and adjoining the Straits Settlements comprise the States of and Negri S Kuala Euala Lumpur is the capItaL cap cap- ital Just opposite Singapore on the mainland is the Independent native nathe state slate of which has Its own o sultan and government but which Is under British protection The British governor of Singapore Is also alro high commissioner for the Fed Federated Main Malay states and Brunei Brunel and British agent agent for or north Borneo and Sarawak thus linking inking up British possessions and spheres of influence In all Malaya l and I establishing close contact through one man with the colonial office in Lou Lon on don Many Races There The Melting Pot of Asia they call this prolific potent peninsula be because aus of the babel of races colors ane and castes which Its wealth of rubber and andUn tin Un has drawn rawn to it IL But in to all this Industrial army of Europeans C inese Japanese Hindus and assorted assort assort- ed South Sea Islanders the Chinese are the most numerous and powerful The Malay himself Is too lazy cento even en evento evento to be a good fisherman He lie grows a n little UlUe rice a few coconuts and nets the fish he needs but nature Is so kind that it is li i said one hours hour's effort a day will support him and his family It Is the Chinaman who Is the tin miner the farmer Carmer shopkeeper ler artisan contractor and amI financier The Tamil and the Hindu add to the stock of local loal labor and own small farms and herds but the many millionaires made In Malaya have mostly been Chinese The he palatial homes of ot the rich C Chinese bosses In Singapore and In contrast with the miserable shacks of ot the natives afford proof enough h of the singular commercial superiority of the yellow race Here Indeed Chinese Immigration has worked a modern miracle In the magic reclamation of this once reeking reek reek- tug ing fever cursed jungle grown wilder wilder- ness cess ness The Chinese It was who first braved bra the poisonous darts of ot the lurkIng lurking lurk lurk- Ing savage the perils of tI tigers ers and und the flames of fever fe and the danger of ot dysentery to conquer these Jungles and dig the tin that put Malaya Malaya Ma Mu- laya Jaya on the map of the trading world Chinese say that tin grows and they use the divining dl rod to locate It t Singapore Is both a great trading center and fortress of the Far East It Lt is a n shining example of how bow Great Britain has muddled muddle as as the British themselves put It Into It-Into Into possession of some of the worlds world's most Important strategic gateways Singapore Is an Island island Is is- land 27 miles mites long lung by 14 wide and Just misses being the southernmost point of ot the continent of ot Asia by a D mile half water channel It Is at the funnel tunnel point of the Strait of ot Malacca which extends between the Malay peninsula and the Island hand of Sumatra the great rent water highroad between India In In- dla dia and China How Raffles Made Singapore Little more than a hundred years ago DO the island owned by the sultan of or on the nearby mainland was a n deserted Jungle save SU for fir a n little fishIng fishing fish- fish In Ing village Ships ShillS in the China trade ode passed l it by as they passed many another another an an- other Jungle shore the only ports of ot call In n that region of the world were 1 tho those e on the Dutch Islands of Sumatra I and find lava Java But these ports took a bl big I toll toU In fees fee arid and Sir Stamford Raffles names un an official of ot the East India 1 company began to dream of a free British por port that would facilitate trade In 1819 he obtained the seemingly worthless worthies Island of Singapore for his company for tor a II small fee Developments quickly quick quick- ly Iy proved him a prophet for within two years the little trad vj center he established had a p population of It was only In 18 1822 1522 2 that the BrItish government go consented to take an Interest interest In in- in terest In the place In n the tile little more than a hundred years Tears since It was waR founded the Jungle of ot Singapore Ita tans has given gi place to a hU huge e elt city of close to population carrying car car- on trade valued at a billion dollars dol do- lars tars annually nine annually one of the metropolises of the British h empire Its Us quays and anchorages serve thousands of craft of ot all sorts and sizes from the pic pic- picturesque I graceful Malay l sampans and the s Chinese Junks to the familiar familiar fa fa- a- a frel freighters of the West and what Kipling asserts are the ladylike ladylike ladylike lady like liners They build up Singapore's Singapore's Singa Singa- pores pore's shipping to the tremendous total total to to- tal of tons yearly Though Singapore Is free from duties duties duties du du- du- du ties and to this fact owes owes Its very existence still the people who make up the city take talce their toll from tram the stream of world trade that flows about them They live lI in fact by and for 1 and In an atmosphere of ot commerce Tens Ten of thousands make their livings by caring for shipping conditioning and supplying vessels and an taking part partin in loading and unloading goods goo The I port part Ort I Is primarily a trans-shipping trans point for both hoth Imports Import anti exports It gives gives' I what I he the economists would call place value vain to hundreds of commodities which trickle to Singapore's reservoirs reservoirs reser reser- of goods from scores of districts I In the East and are there obtainable In the Ule large p quantities that world trade demands In n the city's godowns as the r East ast calls Its warehouses are are handled a aery very ery large part of the worlds world's finest rubber before It begins the Ion long Journey that will take most of it eventually to American highways So too to muCh of or the worlds world's tin Is smelted In hi and shipped from Slum Singa pore It be dubbed the worlds world's pepper pot for more pepper Is assembled assembled assem assem- bled there than Is ever eer held In any other port Real Cosmopolitan City If It ever a city could claim to be cos ens- Singapore can can- At one of the principal world crossroads and with witha a population per cent Immigrant it could not escape cosmopolitanism It t hII has drawn Its population from practically nil all parts arts of Asia from Oceania the Malay archipelago A Africa Europe and America The Chinese Chine e predominate nate note making up about one-half one the population There hn have Te be been n many IY thon thousands of Immigrants from India I Europeans Americans and Australians number less than and there are probably as many Japanese The appearance of Singapore shows how Its mixture of many Influences The Tune visitor may ride in or elec elec- electric electric I cars automobiles or ancient horse horse- horse j drawn carriages In the chief business business busi busl ness ners district he sees secs modern streets I and buildings and aud In the Asiatic quarters quarters I he encounters facilities and sights and odors th that t smack of ot the Orient Singapore's houses of worship turn furnish Ish Ishan an excellent excel Index to Its varied life There are ure Christian cathedrals and churches Moslem mosques and the I temples of halt half a dozen or more Indian and Chinese and and Japanese faiths Without making use of reiteration one can hardly describe the physical aspects of Singapore Island adequately adequate adequate- ly Iy It Is an as Island of red red soil soH and green grcen green verdure The soil soli Is poor but since Singapore Is almost at the equator and moist vegetation ml might ht be said t to grow furiously There is an unending fight between It and the tho coolies who strive to prevent pre Its ta vivid green waves from engulfing the conspicuous conspicuous con con- red roads and cleared spaces So here in the strait Rattles Rallies early declared that the principles of British law should be applied with patriarchal mildness and Indulgent consideration for the prejudices of ot each cach tribe All native institutions such as religious ceremonies marriage e and Inheritance were respected when not Inconsistent with Justice and humanity In this policy lies Ues the secret of ot British cola colo colonizing success |