CAPTAIN FLINDERS AND ROBERT BROWN 231 



gardener, had been in charge of plants between England 

 and India ; John Allen, the miner, appears to have come 

 from Derbyshire, where Banks had some mining in- 

 terests ; John Crosley was the astronomer. The naturalist 

 was Robert Brown, who had been fortunately brought 

 to Sir Joseph's notice by his friend Correa de Serra, 1 in 

 the following message to him while away from London : 



" SOHO SQUARE, October 17, 1798. 



"... Mr. Brown, a very good naturalist, who fre- 

 quents your library, where I have made acquaintance with 

 him, hearing that Mungo Park does not intend to go to 

 New Holland, offers to go in his place. Science is the 

 gainer in the change of man, Mr. Brown being a professed 

 naturalist. He is a Scotchman, fitted to pursue an object 

 with constancy and a cold mind. His present situation 

 is of Ensign and Assistant Surgeon in the Fifeshire 

 Fencibles, previous to which employment he received 

 a regular literary education at Edinburgh. It is by his 

 own desire that I take the liberty of making you ac- 

 quainted with his wishes ; his modesty debarring him 

 from writing to you himself. ..." 



On making acquaintance with Brown, Banks found a 

 true disciple. The current of the young man's life was 

 eventually turned to the single pursuit of Science ; and a 

 close friendship existed between them as long as Banks 

 lived. 



In December, 1800, Ensign Brown was offered the post 

 of naturalist on board the Investigator, at a salary of 

 400. Sir Joseph writes : "If you choose to accept the 



1 Josef Correa de Serra was a Portuguese exile in London, whose 

 tastes were so entirely those of Banks that an intimate friendship 

 arose between them. An interesting account of an examination of the 

 Lincolnshire coast made by them in company, in 1796, was included ia 

 the Philosophical Transactions. 



