COMPARATIVE VIEW.— FRANCE. 163 



must have been attended with no inconsiderable ex- 

 pence ; and, therefore, the skilful Biscayans might, 

 possibly, be sent out to Spitzbergen on the same 

 employment by their own countrymen. Of the ex- 

 tent of their fishing concerns, excepting at particu- 

 lar times, we have no accoimt. In the year 1721, 

 twenty ships were sent on the whale-fishery from 

 diiFerent ports in the Bay of Biscay ; but towards 

 the latter part of the last century, it would apjjear 

 that the Biscayans had totally abandoned this occu- 

 pation. 



From the researches of IM. S. B. J. Noel *, it 

 seems probable, that the French had not only an 

 early knowledge of the use of the harpoon in the 

 capture of the whale, but that they were actually 

 engaged in this enterprise in the l4;th century; and it 

 is not very certain, but they commenced this occupa- 

 tion on some parts of the coast of France even some 

 centuries earlier. In the early whale-fishery, how- 

 ever, by the French, as well as in that by the Eng- 

 lish, we labour under some difficulty in drawing 

 conclusions from ancient charters, grants, c^c. to 

 decide, whether they refer to whales accidentally 

 stranded, forced on shore by the pursuit of boats, 

 or captured in the main sea. On the whole, I con- 

 sider there is reason to suppose, that in some of th^ 



'•' " ISremoiro sur I'Antiquite dc la Peche de la Baleine/' &c. 



