Investment Opportunity

I recently received an e-mail offer to buy a teak plantation in Latin America. The plantation was founded by a Mr. Chan, who had developed it into a very profitable business. The late Mr. Chan always said that he came to Latin America from Canton, but, when asked, his grandson always gives the modern name for where the family came from, Guanzhou.

The e-mail says that, since the old Mr. Chan's death, the family no longer wishes to operate the plantation, and is selling it off.

I have heard of this plantation, and the problem is that harvesting has been stopped by the endangered species act. It seems there is a very rare, endangered bear that lives entirely on teak shoots and leaves.

The Chan family claimed the bear was extinct, but investigators found footprints, and this bear has a very unusual footprint. The Chan family maintained that the footprints were of a native American boy, which the actual bears' footprints do closely resemble, but investigators say they have proof that there are still bears in the teak plantation, and have prohibited any further operations, as the bear is very shy, and any human activity could result in its extinction.

The Chan family finally gave up and put the plantation up for sale, using any means possible to find investors, including a mass e-mail campaign. They conceded when investigators finally produced photographs of a bear nibbling on a teak tree.

The title of the photograph was, of course, "Boyfoot bear with teak of Chan."