We report measurements of the high field magnetoresistance of single crysta
ls, and of the low field Hall effect and high field magnetization of polycr
ystalline samples of BaVS3. Below the temperature T(MI)similar or equal to
70 K of the metal-insulator (MI) transition, the magnetization is linear fo
r 0<H<45 T. The magnetoresistance varies as a(T)H-2 for 0<H<18 T, and a(T)
varies proportionally to the logarithmic derivative of the zero field resis
tivity (1/rho)d rho/dT. This result allows us to estimate the zero temperat
ure critical field H(0)similar or equal to 260 T (=175 K); for this value,
the spin gap is substantially smaller than the charge gap given by Delta(c)
similar or equal to 500 K. The Hall constant increases to very large positi
ve values for T<T-MI, and shows considerable precursive activity for T>T-MI
indicative of fluctuations in the gap above the MI transition. We use thes
e results to discuss several models for the MI transition. [S0163-1829(99)0
1942-6].