About the middle of the seventeenth century, Lahontan was erected into a barony, Of which Isaac de Lom, Sieur d'arce, the father Of our author, was the second baron. The Lahontan', Sieur d'arce was famous as a civil engineer, having the made the port Of Bayonne navigable for sea-going vessels (1630 As a recompense for this and certain military services, Louis XIV granted to him and his heirs for ever (1658) a monopoly Of navigation and transportation in the harbor Of Bayonne, and a pension Of three thousand livres per annum for a dozen years; in later years, he was made reformer-general Of Bearn, a councillor Of the parlement Of Navarre, a chevalier Of St. Michel, and a bourgeois Of Bayonne.