Marlow's assessment of Africa in Heart of Darkness Marlow's assessment of the African wilderness at the beginning of the story is like that of something which tempts him and his fellow explorers towards Africa. When Marlow says, “And as I looked at his map in a shop window, it fascinated me as a serpent fascinates a bird – a foolish little bird” (Conrad, Longman 2196). If we take note of the phrase "stupid little bird" we can see that Marlow is comparing Britain to that stupid little bird. It may be that he thought that Britain's occupation of Africa was nothing more than his own country walking into a trap. It was not a trap designed but of fate. It was his country's destiny to fall prey to the charm of that dark continent. Millions of people would die in an attempt to gain monetary gain by occupying Africa. When Marlow mentions “the whited sepulchre” he may again be referring to his homeland, and when he makes this statement he may be referring to the fact that Britain has sent many of its people to be buried in that deep and mysterious place called the Congo. According to YourDictionary.com, the word sepulcher means "to bury" (YourDicitonary.com). In combination with the word white, referring to his Caucasian race, could Marlow be referring to the death of his countrymen, or could he be referring to the death of a continent, Africa, at the hands of the white race invading it? These thoughts may both have validity in deciphering this text. When Marlow describes “Two women, one fat and the other thin, sitting on straw-bottomed chairs, knitting black wool,” he may be describing the future of two races combined absolutely. disorder in Africa. He could use “black wool” as something similar to understand what the future had in store for millions of both black and white people in the Congo (Longman 2197). "Black wool" may refer to black fragments used to cover the dead. It could also be the idea not of human death, but of the death of an area like the Congo. He may have sensed that the influx of his own countrymen might take away the spirit of that wild and forbidden Congo. Marlow's expression of "guarding the door of the Darkness, knitting the black wool as for a warm cloak, one ushering, ushering continually into the unknown, the other scanning the foolish cherry faces with old indifferent eyes" might provide further clues to Marlow's characterization of the African wilderness (Longman 2198).