Their patriotism and unswerving loyalty to the reigning Prince have ever been their most brilliant virtues.

The famous traveller Kohl has likened the Montenegrins to the ancient Greeks of Homeric times, and the comparison holds good to this day.

“Love of freedom and pride of weapons, simplicity of life—­remember the love of mutton and wine, as described by Homer—­hospitality, the superiority of man over woman, all these features, together with the fact that the heroes are themselves the singers of their deeds,” says Kohl, “are to be found in the Montenegrins, as well as in the Greeks of Homer.”

Woman takes a very inferior position in Montenegro.  She is respected in a sense, and her position has improved greatly in recent times, chiefly owing to the example set by the Prince himself.  At the official reception held on New Year’s Day, when the humblest peasant can go to Cetinje and kiss the Prince’s hand, Prince Nicolas places his wife to his right, and every man must first kiss her hand.  Thus in the highest classes woman takes very nearly the same place as in civilised lands, but as the social scale descends, so does the position of woman.

In the lowest classes she is still not much more than a beast of burden, given to man to ease his lot.  She carries heavy burdens to market, while her lord rides; she may not walk at his side, but a few paces to the rear; neither may she sit at table in the presence of strange men.  The kiss with which men salute each other is not allowed to her, and she must kiss the hand only of the man.  Likewise, she must rise to her feet when men pass by, and in some districts, should she meet a man on the way, she must stop and remain standing meekly at the side of the path; also, she must leave the room backwards.  Neither of these last-mentioned customs is universal, but are to be found largely in the Brda.

The men are handsome and often of immense stature.  Giants of 6 feet 8 inches are by no means uncommon; in fact, a few such men will be seen in every town.  The average height is quite 5 feet 10 or 11 inches, broad-shouldered and deep-chested, with pleasant faces.

The women are often strikingly beautiful, especially when young, but hard work ages them very quickly; in the upper classes, however, middle-aged and elderly women of regal appearance can often be seen.  It is the manners of such women and universally of the men which comes as the greatest surprise, when it is remembered that none or very few have ever seen anything of the outside world.

The faults of the nation are inordinate vanity in their appearance, causing them to impoverish themselves for the sake of gorgeous clothes, and gambling.  They gamble to an excessive degree, heaping debt after debt upon their heads.  Both these vices have caused an active legislation.  Gold embroidery has been abolished on the uniforms of the army officers, and Prince Danilo has already declared that on coming to the throne he will abolish the national costume altogether, i.e. amongst the officials and the upper classes.