The types of the Norse vessels have, however, not been changed as the result of contact with the South. The extraordinary life of the Vikings and their continual piracies justify the conclusion that the merchant ship was not improved among them, but rather among the peoples engaged in a more regular trade. There is really, in my opinion, no cause for astonishment that this development should have taken place in the North-Western part of Europe. There are some even who claim that the vessel “busse”, generally in use during the Middle Ages, came to us from Normandy and dates from the beginning of the XIth century. In order to support this claim, they take their stand on the fact that the word “busse” appears first at about this time in the Chronicles. J. Steenslup has called attention to a people of seamen called the “Butsecarlas” (mentioned in the old Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of the year 1066 and in the book of Florent Wigorniensis, dating from 1052), who occupied the coasts of Hasting and Yorkshire. This writer also calls attention to the second part of the word, which belongs to the Norse tongue, while the word “buza” occurs frequently in the Old Norse and the Old Swedish, near the XIIIth century, and means a boat of sharply curved form. This word, however, is of Romana origin: it corresponds, so it said, to the Old French _buse_ or _buce_ (dating from about 1080); hence it is considered that the vessel “buce” is originally from Normandy. This, however, does not seem to be so sure. It has been shown, as a matter of fact, that the same shapes of ships have been preserved for ages even though under other names. The fact that the word _buse_ is used for the first time about the year 1050 is, therefore, no proof that the type of vessel in question only appeared at this time. I am rather inclined to think that the type under consideration was already in existence, but that it was named _buse_ or _buze_ in Normandy only toward 1050 and, probably, after having undergone a few unimportant changes. Shipbuilding was imported from the Baltic into the Netherlands by the most ancient inhabitants of this country, the Frisians and the Saxons, who then developed it aside from any foreign influence. In this respect, the quotation from Witsen, which appears on page 47 of his well known work, becomes really important: _De Vriezen komt de lof toe van de herstelde scheepsbouw in Nederland, zoo de meeste schryvers willen_[7]. The question is, indeed, that of a development of its own in the North-Western part of Europe; the special and identical forms, still found to-day, to a great extent, from Denmark to Belgium, are sufficient proof of the fact. This is why the Baltic may be spoken of broadly as the Northern centre, in opposition to the Mediterranean Sea as the Southern centre. The development of shipbuilding had this Northern centre as its starting point and finally reached its highest mark in the Netherlands. France and England came later.