Geology and Meteorology 71 



expansion, when quarries were being opened up 

 on all sides for building material. At one time 

 he made rich finds when excavations were being 

 carried out on an unusually big scale to make a 

 reservoir. To all such excavations Brown paid 

 regular visits, seldom returning home without 

 some fossil leaf or stem, some cycad, fern, or 

 palm. Without knowing it Brown was living in 

 the Golden Age of fossil-hunting, soon to be 

 followed by the sterile modernity of reinforced 

 concrete. Yet he was always complaining about 

 the poverty of his particular milieu, and he notes 

 jealously how Kannemeyer had informed him 

 that in his area the railway sleepers were ballasted 

 with fossils ! 



Brown was also a great lover of shells, both 

 recent and fossil, and for a time he collected and 

 studied these interesting and beautiful animal 

 remains. But he ultimately gave up this study, 

 for there are few recent and no fossil shells at 

 Aliwal North, and the competition of other major 

 interests deprived him of the opportunity of 

 displaying the great knowledge of conchology 

 that he undoubtedly possessed. 



There are some callings, such as that of the 

 light-house keeper, which have become surrounded 

 by a halo of glamour, because of the steadfastness 

 with which these reliable men keep their lonely 



