Paris and Vienna 



53 



Meanwhile the Austrian Consul in Port 

 Elizabeth had been dangling various baits in 

 order to land Brown's collection in the Imperial 

 Mineralogical and Geological Museum of Vienna. 

 Although a business man, he never tried to 

 negotiate in terms of money, for he knew that the 

 Imperial purse had to spend too much money on 

 those armaments that alter the course of present- 

 day history to be able to afford much of a contri- 

 bution towards the elucidation of pre-history. So 

 he baited his trap with promises of Imperial 

 favour, pointing out how the Emperor himself 

 had presented a diamond tie-pin to one who had 

 brought back specimens from an Arctic expedition, 

 but Brown was not biting this bait. 



He therefore tried another one for which 

 Brown fell. He promised to get him a Diploma. 

 Accordingly the Consul wrote to Professor F. V. 

 Hochstetter of the Imperial Museum requesting 

 him to nominate Brown and see that, in return 

 for sending specimens, he was elected as a 

 corresponding member of the Imperial and Royal 

 Geographical Society of Vienna. The reply was 

 favourable, so, in his anxiety to close the deal, 

 the Consul caused a notice to be put in the local 

 Press announcing that " the respected postmaster 

 of this town could now style himself as Mr. Alfred 

 Brown, F.G.S.V.," and he wrote asking for the 



