Nineteenth-century Montenegrin society was quite primitive even by contemporary standards. Foreigners were viewed with suspicion and merchants were widely seen as "money-grubbing" and "effete". Wars between the Montenegrins and neighboring Muslim tribes were all too common, as was cattle rustling, banditry and headhunting. Men devoted much of their energy to incessant blood feuds, limiting the effectiveness of Montenegrin resistance to the Turks. Most physical labors was done by women; entertainment consisted of contests exhibiting feats of strength and evenings spent listening to songs recounting heroic exploits to the accompaniment of the "gusle".