Heart of Darkness passage, from part 1?

Question

"I avoided a vast artificial hole somebody had been digging on the slope, the purpose of which I found it impossible to divine. It wasn't a quarry or a sandpit, anyhow. It was just a hole. It might have been connected with the philanthropic desire of giving the criminals something to do."

Anyone know what the context/importance is?

Answer 1

This is the part where the narrator, Marlow, arrived at the Central Station. He sees the natives all chained together and sitting dying under trees in a "grove of death". The hole represents superficial appearences, which you can infer from the last sentance of the passage. I don't think this passage is incredibley important in the story though.