The popularity of this martial art was partly due to the demeanor of the northern folk, who valued personal and family honor enough to kill for it. It was also due in no small part to the relative ease of obtaining a staff as well as the versatility of such a tool: a staff or stick was almost universally present, used as a support for the long daily walks, to help cross the rivers, by the shepherds to protect the cattle from wild animals, and so on. There are references to this martial art being used by the guerrilla against the troops of Napoleon that were occupying Lisbon during the Peninsular War.