32 



Gogga Brown 



reptiles. Four hundred and fifty agates, etc., 

 minerals and peculiar stones, Kaffir curiosities, 

 etc. In fact, six years of spare time of my life 

 in South Africa have been devoted to researches 

 in geology, and according to some scientific men 

 here my collection of teeth, jaws and woods of 

 other ages is unique and superior to many large 

 collections in the Colony." 



The above letter makes reference to some great 

 tragedy which was the turning point in his life. 

 In a previous letter he laments the loss of that 

 Quaker Maecenas who had helped him so materi- 

 ally when he was in difficulties, and, what was just 

 as important, with good counsel and advice. But 

 what was this second calamity that left him so 

 disconsolate ? It can only mean that he had been 

 jilted by some village Venus, with whom it was 

 a case of * out of sight out of mind,' or she may 

 have been a Siren of whom he was well rid. 



This certainly was a * bolt from the blue/ and 

 it was sufficient to make him break forever with 

 his English home, but it did not quite kill his 

 interest in the fairer sex. For, a few years later, 

 he had evidently begun to eye at least one girl 

 over his Post Office counter, and, shy as he was, 

 he actually had the courage to write to her. This 

 is the only love-letter in his Journal, and in as 



