It is chiefly in the Katunska, the cradle of the Montenegrin nation, that the most interesting geological formations are to be found, and in these formations lay its former strength.  The most prominent features of the Karst region are imperfect valleys which have no outlet.  As a consequence of this, the water cannot escape by an overground bed, so it forces itself through the porous surface to reappear in a lower valley, undermining the subsoil, which in time collapses, and forms the oases of this otherwise barren land.  The rain washes down the little earth that there is on the hillside, the chemical action of the limestone oxidises the same, and the so-called “terra rossa” is formed in these depressions, sufficient to give nourishment to the trees and bushes which grow there.  The frugal peasant cultivates these tiny patches of earth and derives enough crops to subsist on, the goats and cattle living on the bushes and smaller trees.

In olden times the little nation found barely enough substance for themselves, consisting as they did of but a few thousand, but an invading army starved.  It was in truth a land “where a small army is beaten, a large one dies of hunger.”

The character of the people has been formed by their surroundings.  Hardy and frugal, capable of subsisting on the smallest amount of nourishment, lithe and active, and open and fearless as their native mountains.

Their food consists of a piece of maize bread at daybreak, and they eat nothing again till sunset, when bread and a little milk form their evening meal.  Meat is eaten but rarely, and then they feast.  The athletic feat of crossing rock-strewn surfaces, bounding from rock to rock at a great pace, rivalling their goats in sure-footedness at dizzy and precipitous heights, has lent their gait that perfect grace of motion which characterises the mountaineer, and in particular the Montenegrin.  The danger in which they have perpetually lived, accustomed to look death in the face at any moment, has stamped upon them that open and fearless look which most forcibly strikes the stranger.

Their blood is of the purest and noblest in the Balkans, for they are largely descended from the noble families of the old Servian Empire who fled to the Katunska after the bloody field of Kossovo, which destroyed the might of the Serbs for ever.  It is probably from these ancestors that their noble bearing and perfect manners, in even strange and unaccustomed surroundings, are derived.  Their notion of honour is of the highest, and thieving and robbery are practically unknown.

Prince Nicolas, like King Alfred, trusts his subjects in this matter of thieving implicitly.  Should a man drop a case of banknotes on the road, the law says that the finder shall pick it up and place it on the nearest stone, so that the loser has but to retrace his steps, glancing at the wayside stones.  This law is invariably followed.

The Montenegrins are still an armed nation, and the following proverbs illustrate their love of weapons.  One says, “A man without arms is a man without freedom”; the other says, “Thou mayest as well take away my brother as my rifle.”