THE WHALE. 135 



authenticated that, in the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th 

 centuries, it was used as food by the Icelanders, 

 the Netherlander, the French, the Spanish, and 

 probably by the EnglisI M. S. B. Noel, in a 

 tract on the whale fishery,* informs us, that about the 

 13th century, the flesh, particularly the tongue of 

 whales, was sold in the markets of Bayonne, Ci- 

 bourre and Beariz, where it was esteemed as a great 

 delicacy, being used at the best tables; and even so 

 late as the 15th century, he conceives, from the au- 

 thority of Charles Etienne, that the principal nour- 

 ishment of the poor in Lent, in some districts of 

 France, consisted of the flesh and fat of the whale. 

 Besides forming a choice eatable, the inferior 

 products of the whale are applied to other purposes 

 by the Indian and Esquimaux of Arctic countries, 

 and with some nations are essential to their com- 

 fort, some membranes of the abdomen are used for 

 an upper article of clothing, and the peritoneum, in 

 particular, being thin and transparent, is used in- 

 stead of glass in the windows of their huts; the 

 bones are converted into harpoons and spears, for 

 striking the seal, or darting at the sea-birds, and 

 are also employed in the erection of their tents, and 

 with some tribes, in the formation of their boats; the 

 sinews are divided into filaments, and used as 

 thread, with which they join the seams of their 



* Memoire sur « 1'Antiquite de la Peche dc la Baleine par 

 les nations Europeennes." 



