2Q2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the terrible impetuosity of the Ehone, which comes down like a bull 

 escaped from the Alps, traverses a lake fifty miles long, and rushes to 

 the sea, biting at its shores as it goes." 



Having thus reviewed some of the characteristics of the chief re- 

 gions of France, let us consider the distribution of the population, 

 and the location and character of the chief industries, agricultural, 

 manufacturing and commercial, which are carried on by the French 

 people. The population of France amounts to thirty-eight and one- 

 half million souls. The rate of increase has been, for a number of 

 years, less than that of surrounding nations. Because of this fact it 

 may be observed that foreign nationalities are encroaching upon French 

 territory from various sides. The Spaniards are flowing in around the 

 eastern and western ends of the Pyrenees. The Italians invade Pro- 

 vence, and the Belgians and Germans the northeastern portion of the 

 country, while there are large colonies of foreigners in Paris itself. 

 Within the last forty years the internal movements of the population 

 show that the valleys have gained at the expense of the mountains. 

 The north has increased more rapidly than the south. The coal regions 

 have amassed dense populations. The city portion of the population 

 has risen from 24.42 per cent, in 1846 to 35.95 per cent, in 1886. Ag- 

 gregate figures show that in that time the city population has been 

 increased by five millions, while the country population has decreased 

 two millions. The occupational statistics still show, however, that 

 France is to be classed as preeminently an agricultural nation. Agri- 

 culture and industry are, however, not increasing as rapidly as com- 

 merce. 



The peasantry of France are the foundation strata of the industrial 

 pyramid upon which the superstructure of manufactures and com- 

 merce rests. They are a frugal and industrious class. Holdings of 

 land are small in the fertile valleys, larger in the pasture country and 

 communal in the mountains, where the land remains in a state of nature 

 and where the shepherd must needs range widely with his flocks. The 

 higher portions of the Pyrenees, Alps and Central Highlands are the 

 sheep walks of France. Between these and the valleys stretches the 

 belt of heavy pastures devoted to cattle-raising. As in England one 

 hears of Scotch and Welsh cattle, so in France one hears of the 

 cattle of Auvergne and Brittany. The stock are grown to full size in 

 the pastures, and are then (such at least as are designed for Paris) 

 shipped to the fertile plains around Paris, to be stall-fed 

 and fattened. In like manner, the cattle sent to London 

 from the north of England are 'finished,' to use the trade 

 phrase, in a semicircle of country to the north of that city. The dairy 

 industry must be sharply distinguished from cattle-raising. The eco- 

 nomic problems presented by the two are quite different. In France 



