This is contraband country, where the Saratars (inhabitants of Sare) have always played border leap-frog.
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On the Spanish side, in these mountains, there has always been “Venta”, houses in which were sold all kinds of manufactured products, and included countryside grocery shops to service the inhabitants, and bars where, on Sundays, the men played “mus” (a Basque card game resembling “poker”). At night, these Venta would be transformed into contraband shops. During the war, immigrants from Spain radically transformed these “houses”, as products were strictly rationed in France.
Since 1945, this activity flourished. Everyone was dealing in contraband (tobacco, clocks, cloth, Roubaix lace, leather, tires, cash, animals, ball bearings, machine and automotive parts). At the time, the families were numerous but owned very little and were, in general, quite poor. This national “sport”, in which all the men participated until the 1970’s, was discretely called “gauazko lana” (night work). Contraband was not an immoral act; for them, it was the border that was immoral and contrary to nature since it opposed ancient trade activity.
La Rhune occupies a strategic position and, over the centuries, the slopes of this mountain have witnessed many misadventures between vigilant customs officers and desperate smugglers.
To be read: Ramutcho by Pierre Loti