80 



Gogga Brown 



to publish something about his more valuable 

 specimens himself, and he generously offered to 

 assist Brown with the writing-up and publication 

 of his valuable story. 



But Brown heeded not Broom's good advice, 

 and he missed his only chance of becoming 

 famous as an archaeologist. For fifteen more 

 years he dillied and dallied, his insane jealousy 

 preventing him from coming to a sound decision 

 regarding the ultimate disposal of these and his 

 other specimens. In the end he was undone, 

 and retribution followed. 



In 1920 he died intestate, and his collection 

 went to the highest bidder, the South African 

 Museum. But, although Brown had entered 

 meticulously numbered notes about each stone- 

 implement in his Journal, he had omitted to put 

 a corresponding number on the stones themselves. 

 This was no oversight : he just would not spoil 

 their natural beauty by putting a disfiguring mark 

 upon them. By some misadventure on their 

 journey to their new home they all slipped off 

 the velvet-lined trays on which Brown had gloated 

 over them, and they became inextricably mixed 

 up. Thus at one fell swoop one of the finest 

 collections of stone implements in South Africa 

 and fifty years of painstaking work went up in 

 smoke. 



