fe 8 ta 
eae 
FRANCE. 
tains 5 districts, 28 cantons, and 260 communes; its 
territorial extent is 7412} kilometers; and its principal 
town is Digne. The department of the Var contains 4 
districts, $2 cantons, and 210 communes; its territorial: 
extent is 7510 kilometers ; its principal town Toulon. 
The department of the Mouths of the Rhone contains 
8 districts, 26 cantons, and 108 communes ; its territo= 
rial extent is 5315 kilometers; its principal town is 
Aix. 
Avignon and the adjoining territory, which belonged 
to the P. before the Revoluti 7 tte nowin 
ted with France, and form the nt of Vaucluse, 
which contains 4 districts, 22 cantons, and 150 com- 
munes ; its territorial extent is 3700 kilometers ; its 
principal town is Avignon. 
The island of Corsica is formed into the two depart- 
ments of the Golo and the Liamone. The department 
of the Golo contains 3 districts, 39 cantons, and 235 
communes ; its territorial ae ~ $2674 ne ; 
its principal town is Bastia. e department of the 
Liamone contains 3 districts, 21 cantons, and 156 com- 
of division. 
; 5. Stras- 
burg; 6. Besangon ; 7. Grenoble; 8. Marseilles; 9. 
Montpellier; 10. Toulouse; 11. Bourdeaux; 12. Nantes; 
pay eo Seereste Rouen; 16. Lisle; 17. 
ijon ; 18. Lyons; 19. Perigueux; 20, Bourges; 21. 
Tours ; 22. Bastia. —s 
CHAP. II. 
Face of the Country—Mountains—Rivers—Etangs 
—Sea Coast Canals—Soil—Climate 
Tue face of the country in France is generally level ; 
elevations, deserving the name of mountains, occur- 
ees and in the southern provinces ; 
Aix to Italy. 
leme, have, in 
serts : 
most of the province is deficient in beauty. Picardy is 
of France. spc te Re BR 
and its marshes resemble 
even in 
_ France, and extend into sev branches. 
than any other province of France: the Vivarrais and 
the adjoining part of Dauphiny are the most romantic. 
The ue beauty of the hilly parts of France is 
much increased by the rich and luxuriant verdure of 
the chesnut trees, particularly in the Limosin, the Vi- 
varrais, Auvergne, and other districts where they are 
common. € is 
The most level tracts are the French Netherlands on 
the north ; on the western side, extensive morasses oc- 
cur in the department of La Vendée and the adjacent 
districts. From the mouth of the Garonne nearly to 
the borders of ‘Spain, the coast consists of a flat, sandy, 
and barren tract, called the Landes. The other parts 
of France are, in general, agreeably diversified with 
gentle risings and depressions. 
The principal mountains are, 1. The Cevennes, which 
are the principal centre of the primitive mountains of 
According 
to Delametherie, the principal branch runs along the ri- 
ver Ardeche towards Alis ; another branch traverses the 
Rhone, on the side of Tournon and Vienne, towards 
the plains of Dauphiny; a third branch forms the 
mountains of Beaujolois, passing by Autun, &c.. till it is 
lost at Avalone. This branch is about 70 leagues long, 
but in general very narrow, not ing in most 
places much above a league ; the fourth branch se 
rates the basin of the Loire from that of the Allier, 
and forms the mountains of Forez; the fifth’ branch 
the basin of the Allier from that of the Cher, 
and passes by Clermont to Montlucon ; the sixth branch 
stretches towards Lim ; the seventh stretchés from 
the Dordogne towards the Charent ; and the eight di- 
vides the Dordogne from the Garonne. The lofty Can- 
tal and-Mount D’Or seem to be part of the Cevennes, 
‘oceeding from the main ridge in a north-westerly 
ine. The northern of the chain is styled the Puy 
de Dome; its elevation above the level of the sea is 
about 5000 feet ; Cantal about 6200, and the Puy de 
Sausi, which is the highest point, about 6300. | This 
enormous assem _of rocks covers an extent of 
120 miles, and is chiefly basaltic. 
677 
S. ‘tisties . 
Mountains. 
Cevennes, 
2. On the eastern border of France, the low and yocges, 
rounded chain of the Vosges begins, on the frontiers of 
Cham and Franche Compté, and running. south- 
ele pena to the course of the Rhine, terminates in 
Jura. 
3. A chain of the Alps crosses the three departments AJps. 
of the Maritime Alps, Lower. Alps, and Upper Alps, 
and afterwards stretching to the north, divides France 
from the kingdom of Italy and Switzerland ; perha 
the Vosges may also be ded as a branch, of the 
Alps. In the department of the Drome, another branch 
of the Alps takes its rise, which crosses. the d 
ments of the Ardeche, Loire, Rhone, Saone and Loire, 
and Cote D’Or, as far as Dijon. 
4, The chain of the 
of France from the port of Vendres, on the coast of the 
Mediterranean Sea, to the Atlantic hi on e a 
of Spain. Its greatest breadth is 40 leagues ; its highest 
pt 1751 te oo above the level of the sea; the 
length about 212 miles. Mont Perdu is the highest 
elevation of the Pyrenees ; Mont Canigou is the chief of 
the Eastern Pyrenees ; the hill is of difficult ascent ; it 
is 1440 toises above the Mediterranean ; the summit of 
it is covered with loose ts, the ruins apparently 
of a rock once higher. The high cliffs of Canigou are 
composed of gneiss. The Pyrenean chain appears at a 
distance like a shaggy ridge, presenting the segment of 
a circle fronting France, and descending at each extre- 
ees stretches on the south Pyrenees. 
