Above this door is a fine steeple, crested with figures, which we could scarcely distinguish, but which we found were the _Cows of Bearn_ clustered round the summit.
When Morlaas was the residence of the Viscounts of Bearn, it possessed a sovereign court, and a mint of great celebrity, where copper, silver, and even _gold_ coins were struck.

Money seems to have been coined at Morlaas in the time of the Romans; its pieces were much coveted in the country for their purity, and were considered far superior to any other in Gascony.

There was a _livre Morlane_ as there was a _livre Tournois_, and it long preserved its celebrity.

It was worth triple _the livre Tournois_, and was subdivided into _sols_, _ardits_, and _baquettes_, or _vaquettes_, _i.e.little cows_.

A very few of those remarkable coins are still preserved; some exist, in private museums, of the time of the early Centulles and Gastons, of Francois Phoebus, of Catherine d'Albret, Henry II., Henry IV., and Queen Jeanne.