i 4 o A BOOK OP WHALES 



whale was hunted at that period: "It is taken, at 

 certain times of winter in many places, including the 

 coast of Bayonne, near a little village distant three 

 leagues or about from the said town, and named 

 Biarris. . . . Opposite that village there is a hill 

 upon which, from a long time back, has been built 

 a tower" (one of the vigias already referred to) "en- 

 tirely for this pursuit, day and night, to discover 

 the ' Balaines ' which pass, and perceiving them 

 coming partly by the loud noise they make, and 

 partly by the water which they throw out by a 

 conduit which they possess in the middle of the 

 forehead. And when they perceive, them to come 

 they ring a bell, at the sound of which promptly 

 all those in the village run with their apparatus which 

 is requisite to take these animals. They have several 

 boats and skiffs, in some of which there are men 

 whose only duty is to fish up those who may have 

 fallen into the water. The others are used for the 

 combat, and in each of them are ten men, strong 

 and capable of rowing well, and several others with 

 barbed darts, which are marked with their mark to 

 recognise them again, attached to cords, and which 

 are thrown with all their force at the whales." After 

 the whale is killed the whalers feast ("font gode 

 chere ") and depart, each with his share, which is 

 calculated by the harpoons already in the body, and, 

 of course, known to their possessors. This author 

 from whom we have just quoted remarks upon the 

 affection of the females for their young, and the 

 comparative ease, therefore, with which they are 



