They were good-natured and orderly, and, when we several times rode through large companies of them, although they laughed and accosted us, they did so civilly, and were neither rude nor coarse. Even when their animals, frightened at the unusual sight, shied up a bank or into a field, they took it in good humour. Once an Arab was thrown from his horse, but he did not seem disturbed by the mishap. We were struck with the difference in temperament between the Arab and the Sicilian, as we recalled the various occasions on which, when in Sicily, we had been the unintentional cause of unhorsing the latter, who, although not apparently injured by the fall, would usually curse us vociferously with fierce gesticulations, as we rode on. It has been our experience that horses, oxen and mules are much more liable to be frightened by a woman on a bicycle than by a man.
Dogs also bark at the former more frequently.
It may be that dogs, which seem to regard themselves as a sort of special police, consider women out of place on a wheel, and in need of correction. In Sicily and Southern Italy, on dismounting in a town, we were immediately surrounded by a motley and noisy rabble, which accompanied us until we left it. On similar occasions, in Algeria, a few Arabs would gather slowly about at a respectful distance, evidently interested, but entirely silent and undemonstrative, never offering to touch the machines. The Arab, as a rule, is lazy and not fond of work or overexertion, yet he sometimes displays both activity and endurance. On that ride to Perregaux a young man ran along with us for two kilometres or more, as we rode at a fairly rapid pace.