ill indulging curiosity, you go and introduce
yourself to him, he will shake you heartily by the hand, and, in good
English, tell you that his name is Walter Brown, and that he will be
charmed to show you something of Oriental life if you will do him the
favour to take a slice of puppy dog in his pagoda after the review! If
there is a chief of a hill tribe in Hindustan in want of a prime
minister who will be able to carry him through a serious crisis, there
is a Brown at hand, who speaks not only his own language, but all the
dialects and languages of Hindustan, who is quite ready to assume
office. It is the same at the diggings, whether of Australia,
California, or Oregon; and we are persuaded that the man whose
habitation is nearest to the pole at this moment, whether north or
south, is a Brown, if he be not a Jones, Robinson, or Smith!

Need more be said to prove that this great branch of the human family is
truly associated with all that is wild, grand, and romantic? We think
not; and we hope that the reader is now somewhat reconciled to the
fact--which cannot be altered, and which we would not alter if we
could--that our hero's name is Tom Brown.

Tom was the son of a settler at the Cape of Good Hope, who, after
leading the somewhat rough life of a trader into the interior of Africa,
made a fortune, and retired to a suburban villa in Cape Town, there to
enjoy the same with his wife and family. Having been born in Cape Town,
our hero soon displayed a disposition to extend his researches into the
unknown geography of his native land, and on several occasions lost
himself in the bush. Thereafter he ran away from school twice, having
been seized with a romantic and irresistible desire to see and shoot a
lion! In order to cure his son of this propensity, Mr Brown sent him
to England, where he was put to school, became a good scholar, and a
proficient in all games and athletic exercises. After that he went to
college, intending, thereafter, to return to the Cape, join his father,
and go on a trading expedition into the interior, in order that he might
learn the business, and carry it on for himself.

Tom Brown's mother and sisters--there were six of the latter--were
charming ladies. Everybody said what pleasant people the Browns were--
that there was no nonsense about them, and that they were so practical,
yet so lively and full of spirit. Mrs Brown, moreover, actually held
the belief that people had souls as