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(Download PDF) Guiding Childrens Social Development and Learning 8th Edition Kostelnik Test Bank Full Chapter
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1. Why do childhood professionals need to understand the nature and function of play?
a. Play is a common ground for social exchange in childhood.
b. Play is the predominant activity of early childhood.
c. Play offers opportunities to practice skills needed for social competence.
d. Play is the expressive outlet for thought and feeling.
e. All of the above
ANSWER: e
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
4. When a child calls a stick “spoon,” why is that considered an important indicator of ability?
a. The child perceives the difference between sticks and spoons.
b. The child is able to separate the word from the object it represents through pretense.
c. The child knows what the words mean.
d. A stick can do the same work as a spoon.
ANSWER: b
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
5. Rita is regularly an onlooker while other children are pretending something. She comes close to them, and says nothing.
What would be the MOST effective strategy in helping her to engage in the play?
a. Wait and do nothing.
b. Tell Rita to say, "Can I play?”
c. Tell Rita to say, " I clean houses. Can I clean your house?"
d. Tell the other children that Rita wants to play even though her behavior makes this obvious.
e. Assign all of the children roles in pretend, including Rita.
ANSWER: c
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.03 - Articulate how adults guide and facilitate children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
7. What aspect(s) of the environment do (does) NOT influence sex role differences in play?
a. differential treatment by parents
b. selection of toys and furnishings
c. peer pressure in a group
d. demographic characteristics of the neighborhood
e. All of the above
ANSWER: d
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
8. What competencies do play activities generate for boys more than for girls?
a. rules learning
b. creative problem-solving
c. imitations
d. task persistence
e. compliance
ANSWER: b
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
9. Which of the following strategies would likely be effective to help a child experiencing developmental delays?
a. Direct the child to engage in a teacher-lead activity.
b. Get an aide who will help the child during play.
c. Use only the general support strategies.
d. Simplify the ongoing activities so that this child can participate with classmates.
e. Play with toys is wasted time in a learning setting for children having special needs.
ANSWER: d
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.03 - Articulate how adults guide and facilitate children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
10. What type of social participation is the following? Claude is mixing soil and water near the area in which Todd and
Justin have constructed a roadway and town in the dirt. Occasionally he delivers “cement” to them, but his activity is
focused on the mixing process.
a. onlooker
b. solitary
c. parallel
d. associative
e. cooperative
ANSWER: d
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
11. Which question do children ask themselves in object play that they don’t ask in exploration?
a. What can I do with this?
b. How does it smell or taste?
c. What happens if the lever moves?
d. Does this piece come off?
ANSWER: a
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
12. Which question do children ask themselves in construction play that they don’t ask themselves in object play?
a. What will happen if I shake this?
b. How can I make this look like something I’ve seen?
c. What happens if I move this lever?
d. Does this piece come off?
ANSWER: b
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
13. Several children are in the block area, experimenting with various stacking strategies. Their aim is to get as many
blocks as they can to stand upright without falling over. This is an example of what kind of play?
a. object play b. pretend play
c. movement play d. construction play
ANSWER: a
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
14. Which of the following children is most definitely involved in practice play?
a. Jenny is playing dominoes with her best friend Sarah.
b. Larry is playing basketball on the playground.
c. Carrie is learning to knit.
d. Tony goes up and down the slide 20 times.
ANSWER: d
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
18. Don and Bryan are playing a board game. Each child has played this game at home with family members. Bryan
insists that the first person who plays is the one with the red playing piece, and Don demands that they roll a die to
determine who starts. They engage in this discussion with much vigor for several minutes. What is their approximate age?
a. under three b. three to four
c. four to five d. over five
ANSWER: d
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
19. Which of the following statements is most appropriate to say to Phillip, who is attempting to engage George in rough-
and-tumble play when George is either unwilling or uncertain?
a. “Go away and leave him alone.”
b. “That’s not nice.”
c. “There are no superheroes here.”
d. “Ask George if he wants to play.”
e. “Instead of running around chasing each other, why don’t you dig in the sand?”
ANSWER: d
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.03 - Articulate how adults guide and facilitate children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
20. Mr. Ramirez is stationed at the game table and notices that the children playing Candy Land are arguing about how to
use the playing pieces. He chooses a playing piece. Next, he asks the children if it is his turn to spin the spinner. He has
decided to help the children in what way?
a. from inside the playframe b. from outside the playframe
c. through metacognitive coaching d. through direct instruction
ANSWER: a
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.03 - Articulate how adults guide and facilitate children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
21. Barbara entered the play area after Geraldine and Rachel were already playing house and asked if she could play. She
listened to their dialogue, made role-appropriate comments as the neighbor, and contributed to the storyline the others
suggested. She smiled and gestured as others also played out their roles, accepting and modifying and responding in her
own play to coordinate with theirs. How would you describe this child’s level of play?
a. a beginner of simple pretend play
b. a friendly easy player
c. a master player who knows the implicit rules
d. a player who has not grasped how to initiate and maintain play
ANSWER: c
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
22. Lalita, age four, has tried unsuccessfully to be the director of house play on several occasions. Ms. Kurzhals usually
dismissed children to free choice activities for the story time by name. She has noticed Lalita’s attempts and is
considering what might be effective in supporting her. What do you think she should try first?
a. Change the materials that are available for free play.
b. Explain the importance of taking turns to the children during the story time.
c. Dismiss Lalita ahead of her usual playmates for a few days so that she can arrive at the pretend play area first.
d. Direct the players to allow Lalita to determine the narrative of the play from outside the play frame.
ANSWER: c
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.03 - Articulate how adults guide and facilitate children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
23. What skills that children learn through play contribute to self-regulation?
a. follows game rules appropriately for age
b. shares or takes turns
c. maintains role in pretend play
d. All of the above
ANSWER: d
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
24. Cun Liu and Hui Li I pretending to bury a stuffed toy dog. They put him in a box, gather dandelions, and appear to
have a ceremony for it. What social competence are they demonstrating?
a. emotional intelligence
b. positive self identity
c. social values
d. cultural competence
ANSWER: d
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
25. Which of the following behaviors contribute to positive self-identity during play?
a. reads and sends nonverbal cues
b. contributes to the plans of others
c. establishes social status in the play group
d. negotiates roles and rules
ANSWER: c
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
26. What is the difference between the play of four-year-olds and children of eight or nine?
a. Older children are no longer interested in pretend play.
b. Older children make great effort to maintain the illusion that the pretend is real.
c. Older children use more explicit strategies.
d. There are no differences between these age groups.
ANSWER: b
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
29. Demonstrating how to construct a bridge is an effective strategy for children who have never seen it done.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.03 - Articulate how adults guide and facilitate children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
30. Based on your understanding of the definition of play, the game of Ping-Pong could represent play for some people,
but not for everyone.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
32. Play with objects is less socially demanding than playing with a group of children.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
37. A child's cultural context including characteristics of the community have little impact on the content of pretend play.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
38. Children who engage in a lot of fantasy play have poor mental health.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
39. The feedback to children from playthings and playmates provides a sense of competence.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
40. Pretend play usually focuses the child’s attention on salient features of social situations.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
41. Children are likely to learn about cooperation and competition through play.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
42. Young boys and girls play in about the same way.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
43. Activities that have little structure force the players to create their own structure and make their own rules.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
44. Boys tend to play family roles more often than girls.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
49. Play with movable outdoor equipment is more likely to be pretend play than play with immobile equipment.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
50. The term “play transformation” refers to children’s tendency to substitute one object or situation for another.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
51. Children whose style is that of a patterner communicate meaning by the special location of objects and their
perceptual attributes.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
52. It’s easier for children to play with an adult than with a peer.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.03 - Articulate how adults guide and facilitate children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
53. Boys are usually as willing to play mother roles as father roles.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
55. Rough-and-tumble play is similar to aggression except for the laughter and other nonverbal acts.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
56. The difference in children’s humor and adult humor is mostly in subject matter.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
57. Children who laugh when others use inappropriate words for bladder and bowel movements should be sharply
reprimanded.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.03 - Articulate how adults guide and facilitate children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
58. Roger, Mary, and Carl have been playing chase for the past several minutes, laughing and calling to each other as they
run from one corner of the playground to another. Mrs. Sanchez, who has been watching from the sidelines, runs toward
them calling, “Chase me, chase me instead.” This is an example of responding from within the playframe.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.03 - Articulate how adults guide and facilitate children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
59. Peter offers Celeste a block saying, “Here, have a cookie before you leave on your trip.” Celeste pretends to eat the
“cookie.” This is an example of object invention.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
60. Vanessa is singing quietly and playing house by herself. Carl is playing with the computer nearby. This is an example
of associative play.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
61. Master players operate within explicit and implicit social rules during pretend play.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
62. Rough-and-tumble play helps children to establish and maintain dominance within the group.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
63. Older school age children tend to use implicit signals to regulate the play drama rather than straight forward proposals
for adjustments.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
65. Why do adults sometimes think preschool children cheat when they play games?
ANSWER: Children treat rules as simple examples of how to play, not as obligations.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.04 - Identify pitfalls to avoid in facilitating children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
70. Where does the violent content sometimes seen in play come from?
ANSWER: Imitation of adults; portrayal of media scenes; acting out of inner emotional needs to cope
with feelings of helplessness or aggression; imitation of scripts from electronic games; real
aggression masked as play
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
71. Describe the sequence through which children proceed in each of the following play types:
a. play with objects
b. dramatic play
c. constructive play
d. play with movement
e. games
f. humor
ANSWER: Answers will vary.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
72. Why should childhood professionals know the developmental sequences of play?
ANSWER: Answers will vary.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
73. How can adults help children to play at increasingly complex levels?
ANSWER: Answers will vary.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.03 - Articulate how adults guide and facilitate children’s play.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
74. Explain the role of play in relation to other aspects of development: language, social development, emotional
development, cognition, learning.
ANSWER: Answers will vary.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
75. Describe the characteristics of play and give examples of playful and unplayful behavior.
ANSWER: Answers will vary.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
77. Which of the following is NOT a significant feature of cultural influences on play behavior?
a. content of play is universal
b. timing and skill development of pretend play
c. the choice of games and the rules used to govern informal games
d. children use what they know regardless of culture
ANSWER: a
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
78. Which of the following behaviors is a hallmark of rough-and-tumble play that is different than movement
play?
a. Children run a lot and make noise.
b. Intimidation and staring down are common.
c. Children tackle, wrestle and laugh.
d. Children may challenge one another.
ANSWER: c
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Remembering
80. Explain the differences between a master player and a child who plays with basic skills only.
ANSWER: Answers will vary.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.02 - Explain how various types of play develop over time.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
81. Using what you know about play and development, justify incorporating play into the daily program.
ANSWER: Answers will vary.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: GCSDAL.KOSTELNIK.08.07.01 - Describe the nature of play and how it relates to social
competence.
KEYWORDS: Bloom’s: Understanding
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Early in the next year he made the tour of all the Red Sea
provinces, including Harrar. But in spite of all this ceaseless activity,
the close of the year 1878 found things worse than ever. Trouble was
once more stirring on the Abyssinian frontier. The northern provinces
were quiet, but their quiet was the torpor of exhaustion. In Darfur
Harûn had once more reappeared, and in Kordofan, too, a rising had
taken place. In the Bahr el Ghazal Suleiman had this time revolted in
good earnest. Only Equatoria was comparatively happy under the
rule of Emin. Unyoro had been given up, and the Somerset Nile was
now the southern boundary. Gessi had been despatched by Gordon
to the Bahr el Ghazal, and in March he himself undertook an
expedition to Kordofan and Darfur, with the object of pacifying the
country and preventing help being sent to Suleiman. At the same
time he made great efforts to put down the slave-trade, and captured
many caravans. In June he was able to return to Khartoum, and left
for Cairo to confer with the new Khedive Tewfik. The short remainder
of his time as Governor-General was occupied with his mission to
Abyssinia, and in December he left for England.
Meantime Gessi had been performing marvels in the Bahr el
Ghazal. Gessi is one of the heroic figures of Soudan history. An
Italian by birth, he served in the Crimea as interpreter to the British
troops. In 1874 he joined Gordon in Central Africa. Thanks to his
energy, a dangerous rising of the Shilluks at Fashoda was put down,
and it was he who circumnavigated Lake Albert. The rising he had
now to face was most serious. Zubehr, before he left for Cairo after
the conquest of Darfur, had assembled his officers and made them
swear to revolt when he should send them word that the time was
ripe. That time was now come. Their organization was complete;
their following was numerous and well-equipped; they had already
proved the incapacity of the Government troops. It seemed that there
was nothing to stop them from dividing the Soudan provinces among
themselves, and finally throwing off the yoke of the hated and
despised Egyptian. They even announced that they intended to
seize Egypt itself. But they had reckoned without Gessi. With a
handful of troops, inferior in quality as well as in number, short of
supplies and ammunition, impeded by floods and generally cut off
from his base by the sudd, in two notable campaigns he utterly broke
their power, seized and shot Suleiman and his principal
confederates, and completely liberated the Bahr el Ghazal.
His end was characteristic of the fate of those who, in those dark
days, dared to serve the best interests of Egypt. In spite of his
successful administration of his province, he found his position made
impossible for him after Gordon’s departure. In September, 1880, he
resigned. After nearly perishing in the sudd, which blocked his
steamers, he reached Khartoum. But there, under the new regime,
he was no welcome guest. He struggled on to Suez, where he soon
after died, unrecognised and unrewarded, utterly worn out by his
exertions and privations. When such a man met with such treatment,
it was clear that there was no chance of the regeneration of the
Soudan under Egyptian rule. The last ray of hope had been
extinguished with Gordon’s departure.
CHAPTER XV
THE PAST—Continued
‘Many, if not most of these men,’ he says, ‘are very indifferent characters. They
are mostly swaggering bullies, robbing, plundering, and ill-treating the people with
impunity. Probably for every pound that reaches the Treasury they rob an equal
amount from the people. They are a constant menace to public tranquillity, and
before any amelioration can be expected they must be got rid of. As soldiers they
are valueless, having no discipline, nor, except in talk, do they exhibit any
extraordinary courage. Compared with that of negroes and Egyptians their pay is
high.’
No one whose lot it has been to travel through the night on the
plains of a tropical country can forget the amazing effect produced
when the sun, with one great leap, as it seems, springs clear above
the horizon. All in a moment the world’s face is altered. Its features
are the same, yet utterly changed. The traveller, however hardened,
can scarcely fail to wonder at the transformation. A journey to the
Soudan to-day produces a very similar impression on one whose
mind is full of the memories of the dark past. The din of battle has
hardly ceased to echo, but the transformation is complete.
Even after Egypt, with all its fascinations, rich with the remains of
ages of civilization, full to the brim of questions and problems deeply
interesting to the student of history, archæology, politics, or
economics, the Soudan, with its triple capital, Khartoum, Omdurman,
Halfaya, comes upon you with a freshness and charm that are
indescribable. Travelling by the ordinary methods, you may go from
Alexandria to Khartoum in about six days. It is well worth while, even
for anyone who has been up and down the whole length of Egypt, to
take the whole journey in one piece. There is all the excitement of
starting for a new country, and at the same time an opportunity to
gather into a focus all the old impressions. Easily and smoothly you
swing through the fertile cotton-fields of the Delta, and its populous
cities and villages, prosperous but dirty, and at Cairo you settle down
into a most comfortable sleeping-car for the night journey to Luxor.
Early next morning you are in the cane-fields of Upper Egypt, with
the river close on one side and the desert on the other. At Luxor you
must change on to the narrow gauge for Assouan, and there is time
to refresh yourself with bath and breakfast, and to look across at the
Plain of Thebes and the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, or to ride a
donkey out to Karnak. From Luxor to Assouan it is hot and dusty
enough, and you are glad to rest there for the night. Next day you
embark at Shellal, above the Dam, for Wadi Halfa, a voyage of some
200 miles. Coming down, the steamers do it in about twenty-four
hours, but upstream it is a leisurely voyage of three days. There is
plenty of time to see the interesting antiquities of Nubia, and, above
all, the famous rock-hewn temple of Abu Simbel, the colossal statues
of which are, perhaps, the most impressive of all the monuments of
Egypt. It is, besides, a most beautiful reach of the river; the hills
come down to the water in bold and rugged outlines, showing to
perfection in the pure, dry, desert air.
The effect of the Dam is clearly seen as far as Korosko. First of
all, at Shellal the boat is moored amid a grove of palm-trees, the
temples of Philæ are knee-deep in water, and the Nubian villages
look quaint enough as they stand on the edge of the desert, forlornly
mourning their strip of cultivated land, most of which the greedy
Reservoir has swallowed up. Probably a great part of these people
will now migrate to Dongola, but the loss of the land—for which,
indeed, compensation has been paid—is really a small matter to
them. Hardly anywhere is an able-bodied male to be seen; all are
away making their living as sailors or servants elsewhere, leaving
the women and old men to keep their homes. These Nubian
boatmen are a most happy and thrifty people, ready to work all day
and dance all night, always to the accompaniment of a song.
The boundary between Egypt and the Soudan, settled by the
Convention of 1899, runs along the twenty-second parallel; not far
beyond this is the frontier town of Halfa. There is no mistaking the
signs of British rule. The whole place is rigidly clean, an
extraordinary contrast to the filth of the Egyptian villages. The streets
are well laid out and scrupulously swept, and shady avenues of trees
are springing up. But at present Halfa is not particularly interesting,
except as the railway terminus of the Soudan. It is twenty-eight hours
to Khartoum. Nothing can be more comfortable than the well-
appointed sleeping-car train, which runs twice a week. Starting at
eight in the evening, you strike right across the Nubian Desert, most
desolate and forlorn of countries. The very stations have no names,
but are known merely by their numbers.
In the morning you come to Abu Hamed, back to the Nile once
more. Abu Hamed is just at the elbow of the river, where it turns to
the west for its great circuit by Merowe and Dongola. Here was the
scene of one of the stiffest fights in the Soudan Campaign, when
General Hunter made his dash from Korti, in 1897, further down the
Nile, to seize the point for which the new railway was making from
Wadi Halfa, and here are the graves of Fitzclarence and Sidney,
officers of the 10th Soudanese, who fell in the battle. Around this
spot a ghostly legend hangs. It happened that the other white
officers of the battalion were wounded on the same day, and the
black troops marched back to their bivouac without any of their white
leaders. A black regiment is always accompanied by its women on
the march, and these have high notions of military honour. They
would have nothing to do with men who dared to return alive from
the field on which their officers had fallen. The warriors quailed
before their wives, and serious trouble was brewing, till a black
sergeant, who lay dying of his wounds, solved the difficulty. ‘Tell the
women,’ he said, ‘that enough of us are dead to guard the spirits of
the white men in the other world. I myself will mount the guard.’
There are innumerable witnesses to testify that he has kept his word.
The lesson was not lost. It was the same battalion which later, at the
Atbara, raced the Camerons for the enemy’s zareba, and, catching
their Colonel as he ran in front of them, bore him heels foremost right
through the camp, securely hedged by a living wall of bodies,
because a second loss like that of Abu Hamed was not to be thought
of.
From here onward the journey is full of interest. Berber is
springing up again from its ruins; it even boasts two stations, but it
has not an attractive look as a place to live in; there is as yet nothing
more than the mud huts of the country, and it is the hottest place in
the world. Next comes the Atbara River, though not the scene of the
battle, for that was thirty miles upstream; then Shendi, of fiery
memory, but now the Crewe of the Soudan, and finally, late at night,
you step out of the train at Halfaya, the railway terminus. One glance
at the sky will show you that you are really in the tropics. Canopus is
shining fiercely in the east. Right overhead the giant Orion strides
across the vault. Northwards the Great Bear stands like a huge note
of interrogation in the sky, and just over the opposite horizon the
Southern Cross is looming up.
Halfaya stands on the northern bank of the Blue Nile, near its
junction with the White. It is destined to be the workshop and
commercial quarter of the capital. At present the Government
steamboat factories and workshops are still at Omdurman, a legacy
from dervish days. But already the necessary buildings are springing
up, and as trade increases the railway terminus will attract more and
more to its immediate vicinity. The Blue Nile, just before its junction,
divides into two channels, which embrace the fertile island of Tuti.
Opposite Halfaya, and along the southern bank of the island, the
river runs in a glorious sweep due east and west for two or three
miles. Here, facing northwards, stands Khartoum, with as imposing a
situation as any capital could wish for.
A well-made road runs all along the river-front, which is being
gradually embanked and walled. Right in the centre rises the white
Palace, the official residence of the Governor-General, a handsome
building, on the site of Gordon’s old palace, set in a lovely garden.
On either side of it stretch a succession of Government offices and
the neat residences of Government officials, to the new, spacious,
and comfortable hotel on the one side and the Gordon College and
British barracks on the other, pleasantly variegated with gardens and
groves of palm-trees, acacias, limes, and bananas. Behind this
Government belt, the town is carefully laid out into wide streets and
squares in two other belts. The second of these contains, or will
contain, houses and shops built by private persons, but of a good
class and on approved plans; the third is open for the erection of any
buildings that the owners choose to construct. Finally, close to
Gordon’s rampart are the Soudanese barracks, and, right outside,
the native villages, laid out in squares allotted to different tribes,
where you may see huts of every shape, characteristic of many
different parts of Africa.
Considering that three years ago Khartoum was nothing more
than a dirty dust-heap, the work that has been accomplished by the
Royal Engineers is truly wonderful. Of course, the city is still in the
hands of the builders; everywhere are gangs of workmen levelling
roads, preparing foundations, making bricks of Nile mud, carrying,
hammering, digging, building. Women, too, are employed. Their
principal duty is bearing water for the lines of young trees that will
one day make each street a shady avenue. Already the town is
lighted with lamps far better than many an Egyptian city, and it is
hoped that in a short time a tramway will be in working order.
From November to March the climate is very delightful: it is hot, of
course, at times, but the north wind blows steadily and coolly
practically every day, and sometimes the nights are even cold. Even
if it is hot, there is always the Blue Nile to refresh the eyes. It is a
comfort to find that the Blue Nile is really blue—as blue as any Italian
lake. One is so often told that it is called blue because of the mud it
brings down during the flood—the mud which causes the ‘red’ water
so dear to the Egyptian cultivator. But anyone who looks at it cannot
fail to realize that its name is derived from its clear and limpid waters,
and not from its muddy flood-time. One of the most charming scenes
in Khartoum is the view of these blue waters seen from the windows
of the Soudan Club through a green maze of palms and lime-trees.
Khartoum, with its bungalows, offices, shops, and banks, is a
civilized town, summoned up out of nothing, as it were, by an
enchanter’s wand. Far different is Omdurman. Here, too, the
engineers have been at work, clearing, demolishing, and cleaning.
Only those who marched in after the battle four years ago and saw
those foul labyrinths of streets can realize how much has been
accomplished. But though purified and greatly shrunk, of course,
within its limits in the Khalifa’s time, Omdurman remains a real
Central African city, with nothing European about it. It was originally
intended to move all the inhabitants over to Khartoum; but the
natural convenience of its position on the left bank of the river, just at
the junction of the two Niles, makes it impossible to carry out this
intention. Its population is actually increasing at present, and it
seems far better to let natural forces work their way, and retain it as
the native quarter of the capital, distinct from the seat of government.
It possesses, too, a wide sloping foreshore, or beach, exactly suited
to the feluccas which ply upon the river.
This beach is one of the great sights of Omdurman, and a
fascinating spectacle it is. On a busy day it is absolutely crowded
with traders and porters from all parts of the Soudan. It is the great
market-place for gum from Kordofan, feathers from Darfur, ivory from
the Bahr el Ghazal, dhurra from the Blue Nile country, and
everything else that comes in by boat or camel. All day long the
porters go to and fro, carrying their loads and chanting their
monotonous songs, chiefly tall, broad-chested, but spindle-shanked
negroes from the Nile Valley, Dinkas, Shilluks, Bongos, or Bari, with
here and there a short, thick-set, sturdy hillman from Southern
Kordofan or Dar Nuba. Women equally diverse in type sit sorting the
different qualities of gum. Naked children, brown and black, tumble
and chatter in every direction. It is difficult to drag one’s self away, so
strange and novel and varied are the sights.
But Omdurman has much more to show. First and foremost the
Khalifa’s house, the only two-storied building in the town, and built of
brick. It is occupied now by the British inspectors. Hard by are the
ruins of the Mahdi’s tomb, too solidly built to be entirely destroyed,
but even its partial demolition has been sufficient to put a complete
stop to pilgrimages. In front is the great square in which the Khalifa
used to preach to his assembled dervishes. It is surrounded by a
high wall excellently built, said to be the work of the German
Neufeld. It is witness now of scenes very different from those of the
old fanatical days, so far removed in everything but time—perhaps
the parade of a Soudanese battalion, a football match, or the arrival
of a string of camels laden with gum from El Obeid.
In the Beit el Amana are some interesting relics of the past. Here
are the brass cannon taken originally by the Mahdi from the
Egyptians, and piles of captured dervish muskets of every shape and
form, swords and caps; and here, too, is the Khalifa’s carriage, a
ramshackle, broken-down old four-wheeled chariot. It is a puzzle
how it ever got to Omdurman. It looks as if it were built for some
quiet old maiden lady in a French provincial town, but it fell on a
strange master in its old age; and Slatin Pasha, now Inspector-
General of the Soudan, had to run as a footman before it. Close by is
the great broad street leading northwards, by which the British troops
marched in on the battle. Every step is reminiscent of the last
evening of days of the dervish tyranny.
But the most fascinating sight of all is the sook, or market. The
mixture of races is amazing. It would take a trained scientist to
catalogue them all. From a camel to a silver bracelet, there is
nothing dear to a native that cannot be bought. Here are made and
sold the angarebs, or native bedsteads, woven with string across a
low four-legged wooden framework. As yet these people have not
much mechanical ingenuity, and their appliances for working in wood
and iron or other metals are rude in the extreme. The past in the
Soudan has not been conducive to the development of the arts, but
there is promise for the future.
One feature of the place is the curiosity shops, full of many
strange spears and shields, knives and sabres, and occasionally an
iron gauntlet or coat of mail such as the dervishes wore; but these
are rare now. These Arab shopmen know how to drive a hard
bargain, and love nothing better than chaffering over a price. All
curiosities are called ‘antiquos.’ There is an annual flower-show in
Khartoum, at which a prize is given for the best ‘antiquos.’ A
Soudanese turned up who was very anxious to compete for this
prize with a live porcupine, which he insisted was an ‘antiquo.’ He
was allowed to exhibit at last, but not for competition, on condition
that he himself led it about by a string, as the authorities could not
undertake its charge. With more justice a live tortoise is also
commonly offered for sale as a very choice ‘antiquo.’ In another
quarter are the rope-makers, twisting their long coils of fibre in
exactly the same way as they have been twisted for centuries;
further on, the basket and net makers are weaving dried reeds in
curious patterns. Yet another part is entirely devoted to the needs of
women. Here are combs and strings of all kinds of beads, unguents,
and the strange preparations they use for fixing the small plaits in
which they tie their hair; cinnamon bark and other scents, without
which no wedding is complete; cooking-pots and other articles of
their scanty domestic furniture; even dolls of most weird and
fantastic shapes and material, and many other quaint trifles. The
whole place is crowded with women, black and brown, many of them
tall in stature, easy and graceful in their movements, and, however
ugly they may be in other respects, nearly all with the most
beautifully shaped arms.
It is a strange contrast to go a little further on through the western
outskirts of the town, and to find a game of polo proceeding on the
hard desert sand. And beyond, again, in the middle of these great
spaces, far from the rush and turmoil of the town, are the quiet
graves of two or three of those who have laid down their lives in this
far country, and shall see their homes no more.
It would take a long time to get tired of merely riding about in
Omdurman and watching the thousand and one sights of such a
place, and reflecting on the stranger scenes that must so frequently
have been enacted there less than five short years ago. But if you
want a gallop in the desert, nothing is more delightful than to pass
along the broad street leading northwards through the deserted
quarters of the once huge city, and to ride, with the keen wind
blowing freshly in your face, to Gebel Surgham, the hill which
overlooks the field of Kerreri, that historic field of bloodshed. The
merest novice can easily follow every phase of the battle, and see
where wave after wave of the dervish hosts rushed madly but
heroically to their doom. Some of their skulls still lie bleaching in the
sun. There, too, is the khor where the Lancers made their famous
charge. Or you may take boat, and sail past the mud forts that
saluted the steamers which came just too late for the watcher
anxiously straining his eyes to see them from the palace in
Khartoum. Almost every spot has its own historic interest. Perhaps
as you skim along before the wind a battered old paddle-steamer
labours creaking past, towing a string of barges. It is one of Gordon’s
gunboats, once more patched up and restored to duty.
But of all the sights and interests of this fascinating place, by far
the most impressive, as in Cairo itself, is the ancient and mighty
river. Khartoum and Omdurman are what they are because here the
two great tributaries join their forces and set out across the waterless
desert on their great mission to Egypt. The spot where the Blue and
White rivers meet, and for some distance flow side by side
unmingled, would be still in many ways the most notable in all