28 



Gogga Brown 



a famous Spa. Nature has lavished a permanent 

 gift upon her in the shape of Hot Mineral Springs, 

 medicated with all the best healing salts, and 

 heated to the right temperature of the human 

 body. Certainly Aliwal North to-day has many 

 attractions for the visitor. 



But in 1859, when Brown arrived there, the 

 township had only been laid out five years 

 previously. It had not even a church, that 

 foundation-stone of most South African villages. 

 I doubt if it had a school, to found which seems 

 to have been one of Brown's main objectives. It 

 was, however, the centre of a large magisterial 

 district with a Resident Magistrate, and there 

 were a number of private houses and one or two 

 stores, as these emporium shops of Africa are 

 still called. 



Fate, however, was as usual playing her strong 

 hand in man's affairs, and she had determined 

 that this was the place where Brown should pitch 

 his tent and unload his scientific caravan. Where 

 else in the wide world could she have been so 

 sure that her Colossus would meet with his 

 colossal affinity ? She knew that he was bent on 

 studying the earth's crust, and that he was more 

 interested in forgotten worlds than in the present 

 one. What would have been the use then of 

 taking him to those ordinary places, where humans 



