A man from the Congo river

‘It seems that everyone’s sense of civilisation is deteriorating here. Otherwise, these are very narrow-minded people who talk of nothing but whipping the Negroes and that sort of obscenity. It is horrible to see these poor men being beaten. It is almost as if animals were being tortured. But they say one gets used to it; only time will tell.’ The diary of Akseli Leppänen, a Finnish boatman who worked on the Congo River, tells the story of a man’s life over some twenty years. But through him, it also tells a story of colonialism.