Alexandria is even more up-to-date than Cairo, for there not only tramcars but motor-omnibuses are to be seen.
Morocco, another country of North Africa, although much nearer to Europe, is still very much behind the times, and therefore even more interesting, perhaps, than Algeria and Egypt. In Tangier, for instance, the streets are so steep and rough that only very primitive vehicles can be used, and most people, natives and Europeans alike, ride either on donkeys, mules, or ponies.
IN MOROCCO.
The Sôk, or market-place, in this city is most picturesque, for there can be seen groups of pack-mules, laden and ready to start off on some long journey; ponies with women sitting on strange saddles set sideways like chairs, and Arab chiefs mounted on their magnificent horses. The market-place itself is very curious, with its whitewashed and narrow gateways, through which the mules with their large panniers can scarcely pass.
CHAPTER VII
JOURNEYS IN THE NEW WORLD
From the Old World we go to the New, and see if we can find any curious vehicles in the great continents of America and Australia.
Beginning with America, as that was the first of the new lands to be discovered, we will go back to the days when Red Indians lived in the forests and rode their wild, hardy ponies across the prairies. The Indians had no wheeled conveyances, but they harnessed their ponies to strange little sleds, which dragged on the ground and supported the long tent poles and heavy loads of household gear.