Review: The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement, edited by Angus Mitchell, Lilliput Press, Dublin, 1997.
This book reproduces correspondence written by Roger Casement in 1910, as well as his Putumayo Diary covering the period 23rd September to 6th December 1910. The existence of the ‘Putumayo Diary’ represents a fatal weakness in the edifice that the forgers of the ‘Black Diaries’ have constructed.
The contrast between the authentic diary and the ‘Black Diary’ [meaning the forged diary, ed.] for the same period could not be greater. The authentic diary is an account from a human being who is engaged with his environment, whereas the black diary is a collection of facts written in machine-like, leaden, prose.
The authentic diary conveys the horror of the rubber industry in the Putumayo region, while the Black Diary attempts to diminish it.
It is inconceivable that both were written by the same person.
In general, the Black Diaries consist of sexual material, designed to undermine the reputation of Roger Casement, as well as a large amount of non-sexual material, the purpose of which is to ‘authenticate’ the diaries. Readers are invited to believe that, since there are facts in the non-sexual material that are true, therefore the sexual material must also be true.
Once the forger had culled the factual material from authentic Casement documents, he disposed of those documents (Note 1). This was necessary to sustain the illusion. When a magic trick is performed it is important that the audience doesn’t know how it was done. So, readers of the Black Diaries have marvelled at all these facts that only Casement could possibly have known!
But the fact is that, in the case of the period between 23rd September and 6th December 1910, there is an authentic diary which runs parallel with the Black Diary. The forgers could not dispose of this diary because it had already been submitted to a parliamentary Select Committee in Westminster, and therefore was in the public domain.
So, for the final months of 1910, the illusion is shattered!
We know how the information in the Black Diary that “only Casement could possibly have known” was obtained. It came from the authentic diary. Of course, the question that arises from the rather inconvenient existence of the authentic diary is: why would Casement have kept two Diaries for the same period, each containing information about the same events!
If the Black Diary for 1910 had consisted of only sexual material, there might be some credibility to it. But less than four percent of its content is of a sexual nature. The purpose of the remainder is to disseminate “facts” that would “prove” that the Diary was authentic.
That is not something that an authentic diarist would be interested in doing, especially if the facts were already documented in another diary!
It can only be assumed that the forgers thought that the authentic diary would never be made public, or that nobody would question the anomaly. The idea that the authentic diary would be forgotten about was not an unrealistic proposition. After all, it is hardly mentioned in Brian Inglis’s 1973 biography, which provided the template for subsequent biographies of Casement.
For this reason, Angus Mitchell has provided an invaluable service in publishing the authentic diary, as well as other authentic Casement documents for the period.
The correspondence and diary entries reproduced in this book portray the real Casement—his challenges, hopes, fears, and frailties.
In my review of Dr. Audrey Giles’ handwriting analysis of the ‘Black Diaries’ (Irish Political Review, March 2026), one of those frailties is mentioned. Casement had a severe eye infection which made it difficult for him to write. He found it more comfortable to write in pencil.
Dr. Giles compared the authentic diary with the Black Diary for the period 9th October 1910 to 14th October 1910. She couldn’t help noticing that, while the Black Diary was written in ink, all the authentic diary for this period was written in pencil. This must have bothered her (but not too much!) because she then decided to check the microfiche for the whole of the authentic diary in the National Library of Ireland. She was able to confirm that some of this Diary was written in ink. Phew!
But Mitchell in his book—which was published five years before the Giles Report—notes that the whole of the authentic Putumayo Diary up until the 25th October 1910 was written in pencil. Furthermore, unlike in the Black Diary, Casement frequently mentions his eye problem. He also reports that during this period other correspondence of Casement’s was written in pencil—for which he felt it necessary to apologise to the person he was writing to. For example, in a letter of 1st September 1910 to Colonel Bertie he says:
“…my eyes have got no better—rather worse I am afraid—and that is my chief reason for using pencil. I find it less strain to write with pencil than with ink—in latter case one has to look closer at the paper and form the letters more distinctly”.
It is unfortunate that it is necessary to waste time exposing the lies of the forgery deniers because the Putumayo Diary and Casement’s other correspondence are fascinating historical documents in their own right.
He was in South America on official business for the British state. Following the reputation he had garnered for his investigations of the Belgian atrocities against Africans forced to work in the rubber industry of its Congo colony, Casement was commissioned by the British Foreign Office to investigate similar atrocity allegations in the Putumayo region of South America.
The Putumayo region was not a colony of the British Empire. Nevertheless, the British had interests in the area. In his interesting Introduction to the book Mitchell, notes that distinguished British Scientists such as Richard Spruce, Alfred Wallace, and Henry Bates had explored the Amazon in the 1850s. But these were not just disinterested intellectuals. They were the vanguard of the British Empire.
Spruce described the method of extracting rubber. And, in an act of botanical theft, 70,000 seeds were taken and transferred to British colonies in Southeast Asia.
In the specific case of the Putumayo region the rubber industry was financed by British capital, through a company called the Peruvian Amazon Company. Also, many of the employees were from Barbados which was a British colony.
Since Britain accepted the Monroe doctrine—which holds that South America forms part of the American sphere of influence—Casement was obliged by the terms of reference of his enquiry to tread carefully. For example, he was only allowed to interrogate witnesses that were British subjects.
But these subtleties were completely lost on the author of the 1910 Black Diary. For example, in authentic correspondence, it is mentioned that on 4th September 1910, Barnes (an employee of the Peruvian Amazon Company) undertook an examination of Juan Guerrido. But, in the Black Diary, it is the diarist himself who “interviewed F. Bishop and Juan Guerrido on Putumayo. Dreadful story—all Commission present” (p98).
This statement conflicts with the authentic correspondence. Given the sensitivities involved, it is inconceivable that Casement would say that he himself interviewed Guerrido.
Also, the bland “dreadful story” comment without saying what was dreadful about it is typical of the style of the Black Diary: there is no detailed reporting.
Unlike the Black Diary, the authentic diary gives a horrific account of the situation in the Putumayo region. While formally the Putumayo was part of Peru, the area was contested with Columbia. But, when Casement arrived there, he found that the Peruvian State’s remit did not extend to this region.
It was run by rubber barons whose crimes were perpetrated with impunity. At the top was a man called Julio Arana, who ran the operation. The next level consisted of “Chiefs of Sections”, who had absolute control over the various districts of the region. At a level below that, there were overseers who were mostly from Barbados; and the lowest level in the hierarchy consisted of the Indian forced labour.
The rubber “industry” in the Putumayo was a system of slavery. There was no production or cultivation involved; it was purely extractive. The Indian tribes were coerced into extracting the rubber from the trees. If quotas were not reached, they were routinely flogged and tortured. The punishments were administered by the overseers on the orders of the Chiefs of Sections.
The Chiefs were absolute rulers who were not constrained by any law. Murder and rape were common. They kept numerous concubines. The extent of the exploitation was genocidal in its effect. Whole tribes in the area were being wiped out.
This was the environment that Casement found himself in 1910. Since there was no State in existence, the investigation was not protected by the law. Casement had to accumulate evidence furtively because his every move was watched by the criminals he was investigating.
There is no doubt that Casement was putting his life in danger. The idea that he would have kept a diary containing incriminating sexual material which could be used by his enemies is nonsensical!
Much of the source of his information came from the Barbadian overseers, who were implicated in the atrocities that were committed against the Indians. They were often the ones administering the punishments. He knew that it was likely that the Peruvian Amazon Company would use these as scapegoats. But the position of these overseers was barely above the slave labour status of the Indians. The company provided them with credit for goods at exorbitant prices, so that they were in debt, which is a description of bonded labour.
Casement’s targets were the Chiefs, and ultimately Julio Arana, the person who presided over the barbaric operation.
The Black Diary for the period doesn’t convey any of the horror of the system of slavery. There are just facts without any context. So, according to the Black Diary of 21st October 1910, an Indian boy and a woman were “both Better”, according to Armando Normand. Casement is supposed to have said “Thank God”.
It is a fact that Armando Normand was in the vicinity of Casement at the time. But the idea that Casement would respond to assurances from Normand that two of his victims were “both better” with the words “Thank God”—as if Casement believed him—is inconceivable. Yet again the forger misses the context (deliberately or otherwise).
Among all the nasty, vicious Chiefs of this barbaric operation Normand was the most evil. He was alleged to have burned his victims alive.Casement’s flesh crawled at the mere sight of him.
There are numerous other examples of the forger’s failure to understand the context. In the authentic diary it says:
“Macedo says if it does not rain on 2nd November it will not rain for six weeks. A local St Swithin evidently”.
This is a little joke of Casement’s. According to English folklore, whatever the weather is like on St. Swithin’s Day—whether rain or sunshine—it will continue for the next 40 days and nights.
The idea that there was anything saintly about Victor Macedo, who was one of the vicious Chiefs of Section, is an example of Casement’s black humour. But the dullard who wrote the Black Diary doesn’t get the joke because he is oblivious to context.
The entry for 2nd November 1910 in the Black Diary says: “Very little rain today, but still it passed St Swithin’s with rain”. This is incoherent. St. Swithin’s Day is on the 15th of July. The only connection with St. Swithin’s Day is Macedo’s comment in the authentic diary which is not mentioned in the Black Diary.
You can see what the forger is trying to do. He wants to collect facts to authenticate the incriminating sexual material in the Black Diary. Casement mentions St. Swithin in his diary, so the forger thinks he has to put this in the Black diary. It has something to do with rain so why not throw that in as well to make it more ‘authentic’.
The Black Diaries are merely a collection of facts. There is nothing truthful, authentic or human about them. And even the facts, as Mitchell points out on numerous occasions, are not always accurate.
Certainly, there is none of the passion of the authentic Diary. Here is an example of Casement’s emotions in the authentic Diary:
“I’d swear to God, I’d hang every one of the band of wretches with my own hands if I had the power and do it with the greatest pleasure. I have never shot game with any pleasure, have indeed abandoned all shooting for that reason, and I dislike the thought of taking life. I have never given life to anyone else, and my celibacy makes me frugal of human life, but I’d shoot or exterminate these infamous scoundrels more gladly than I should shoot a crocodile or kill a snake” (p45).
The passage is interesting for the raw emotion, but it also reveals Casement’s conservatism in matters of sexual morality. Needless to say, there is nothing like this passage in the Black Diary for the period.
Another example of his conservatism is his comment in the authentic Diary on what was being shown in a cinema in Iquitos:
“The things shown were of the usual Latin American type—of the amorous seduction and outraged husband setting—altogether immoral and nasty and the very worst to put before an audience mainly composed of young Indians, soldiers and work boys whose natural simplicity can soon be corrupted by what is offered to them thus in the name of a higher civilization”.
The authentic Diary reflects the private thoughts of Casement. They were not intended for publication. Forgery deniers such as Brian Inglis attempt to imply his reluctance to make the Diary public was because of the sexual material. But there is no sexual material in the authentic Diary, other than the depredations of the senior people in the Peruvian Amazon Company.
As discussed in the Irish Political Review (March 2026), Inglis attempted to get around this problem by suggesting that the authentic Diary is an edited version of a much longer Diary. But, notwithstanding Casement’s reluctance to make the Diary public, his letter to Charles Roberts of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Putumayo makes it clear that the Diary is “as it stands”. Here is the relevant passage:
“Naturally there is in it something I should not wish anyone to see—but then it is as it stands”.
There is indeed plenty in the authentic Diary which would have upset his British employers. He was commissioned to look after British interests but his sympathies were with the Indians. He considered them to be morally superior to their masters.
He identifies with the Indians as an Irishman because the Irish had also been victims of Imperialism.
Casement was encouraged by any act of resistance by the Indians! When he read a report of a slave revolt in which the Indians killed 67 people, he comments in the authentic Diary in an entry on 2nd December 1910:
“This is quite cheerful reading—I’m glad to learn that the Huambisas have had another victory—and only regret it is not 6,700 persons”.
Casement accepted that the clock could not be turned back. The Indians would never be left to their own devices. But, even here, there is no consolation for the British. As the following passage shows, Casement thought that the only hope was for the Germans to take the natives in hand:
“The Portuguese (and Peruvians and others) have killed off in a shameful and cowardly fashion the aboriginal Indians, who had the Jesuits gained the day over Pombal and the Colonists, would have today numbered millions. The murderers have put nothing in the place of those whom they destroyed, neither civilization to replace savagery, nor white humanity to replace the copper—all they could do and have done was to pull down, not to build or create. The mighty river, and far beyond its shores of this great continent, awaits the hand of civilization. Four hundred years of the Spaniard at its sources, 300 years of the Portuguese at its mouth have turned it first into a hell, and then into a desert. No sight could be pleasanter than the flag of Teutonic civilization advancing into this wilderness. The Americans have got their part of America, and it will take all their time to civilize themselves. Germany with her 70,000,000 of virile men has much to do for mankind besides giving us music and military shows. Let loose her pent up energies in this Continent, and God help the rats who have gnawed at it so long. Law and order would have meaning then, and justice and labour advancing up this mighty river would subdue the forest and found cities, and realise here in these glorious wastes the glowing words with which Bates closes his book—“for I hold to the opinion that, although humanity can reach an advanced state of culture only by battling with the inclemencies of nature in high latitudes, it is under the equator alone that the perfect race of the future attain to complete fruition of man’s beautiful heritage—the earth”.
Elsewhere in the authentic Diary (21st November 1910), he says:
“…when the Monroe Doctrine is challenged by Germany and happily dispatched under her shot and she’ll, the valley of the Amazon will become one of the greatest granaries of the World.”
Casement was a friend of Arthur Conan Doyle, who campaigned for Casement’s reprieve in 1916. Doyle is famous for writing the Sherlock Holmes detective novels. But he is also known for having written a novel called “The Lost World”, which was first published in 1912 and has never been out of print. This novel describes explorers discovering a lost world in the Amazon basin, in which dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals still exist. The author used Casement’s experiences in Africa and the Amazon region to write the book. It is widely believed that one of the main characters—Lord John Roxton—who “helped end slavery in the Amazon”—is based on Casement.
The themes have been used extensively by Hollywood in such films as Jurassic Park and countless others.
Casement discovered his own ‘Lost World’ in the Putumayo. But there were no dinosaurs or other prehistoric animals there; only monsters in human form operating a system of slavery which was long thought to be extinct. It is a remarkable story which deserves to be retold.
John Martin
Note 1
For an interesting account of how the forgers used data from authentic Casement documents in the 1910 Black Diary and then disposed of the authentic documents see Paul Hyde’s article in the link below:
Irish Political Review 