SARTHE. 



SATIMANGALUM. 



450 



Braye, the Elangsort, and the One on the right bank ; the Hnisne 

 receives several small stream*. The rivers abound in fish ; the Huisne 

 and its affluent* yield excellent treat By the Sarthe and the Loir the 

 department has about 100 miles of internal navigation. 



Roadway communication is afforded by 7 imperial, 12 departmental, 

 and 26 communal roads. The railway from Paris to Brest through 

 Cbartres is open to Le-Mans in the centre of the department, whence 

 the line is in course of construction nearly due west to Routes : lines 

 are authorised to be laid down one northward through Alencon, 

 Argentan, and Falaise to the Paris-Cherbourg line between Lisieux 

 and Caen ; the other southward through Chatean-du-Loir to Tours, 

 where the lines from Nantes and Bordeaux converge for Paris. 



The climate is mild and healthy. The soil varies much. The part 

 occupied by the formations of the cretaceous group presents little else 

 than a succession of sands. Part of this tract is made to yield good 

 rrops of grain, and other parts are planted with pines (Pimu mortrimo). 

 The rest of the department has a tolerably productive soil About 

 two-thirds of the area of the department are under the plough. The 

 principal grain crop is of wheat ; but oats, buckwheat, and maize are 

 also grown, and rye in the sandy district*. A considerable quantity 

 of hemp and flax is raised, and a great quantity of trefoil seed for 

 exportation. The meadows and grass-land* occupy nearly 150,000 

 acres, and there are above 110,000 acres of berth or open pasture. 

 The number of honed cattle is considerable. Bhesp are numerous. 

 Poultry and game abound ; the former are sent in great numbers to 

 the Paris market*. Bee* are generally kept The vineyards occupy 

 about 25,000 acne: the wine is bad. The orchard* and gardens 

 occupy as great an extent as the vineyards. Cider is the common 

 drink of the people ; about 5,000,000 of gallons are made annually. 

 Considerable quantities of fniit, chestnuts, and walnut* are grown. 

 There are several druidical remains near Connem, a small place near 

 theHuone. 



The department is divided into four arrondiseiniint* as follow* : 



suV| )*vynueB*ew <mm*rTt *> ** i iiinsa ISISPSI MMSJSJJSJ mtv IllsllinisMTI 



ind, and trade in corn, hemp, wool, seeds, poultry, cattle, Ac., in 

 irried on : Sille-le Omllaumo ha* a well-preserved feudal ca*tle built 

 i the Uth century. 



Orne; teommoy, population 3700, near the One, an affluent of the Loir; 



KH''-U-<iUaMt, population 3000 for the whole commune; and La 



Smtt, on the left bank of the Sarthe, over which then i* a h-mfcomt 



bridge, population 2200. At SUM le-Ouillaume linen* an manufac- 



tun-l. and trade in com, 



ejn . .[ :, 



in the 14th century. 



2. In the second arrotKliasement the chief town, Ja'eeMrt.popnktion 

 5 WO, between the Bienne and the Orne, wa* anciently fortified, and wa* 

 taken in the llth century by the Count of BeUme, and afterwards 

 by the Norman*; but there an now scarcely any traces of fortifica- 

 tion*. The town onnsiets of two Urge square*, with a number of 

 street* adjacent to or terminating in them. The houses an tolerably 

 well built, chiefly of stone. The smaller of the two squares i* occu- 

 pied by ahandsome covered market; the other by a large building. 

 formerly a convent, BOW nmiteining the office* of the sub-prefect and 

 the mayor, the college, the public library, the theatre, the prison, and 

 the barrack of the gendarme*. The manufactures an coarse linens, 

 calico, hosiery, beer, leather, Ac. Trade i* carried on also in corn, 

 wine, brandy, wax, cattle, and sheep. Near the town is an ancient 

 camp. /Vejmy-fe- FicnU*, or Frfnay, population 3160, ha* a linen- 



hall, and a museum of natural history. 

 nsmfactun of fine linen. Btmm - 

 an ill-built place 15 mile* aw. fn 





town i* famous for the 

 tion 2330, on the Sarthe, 

 it* origin and it* 



distinctive epithet to the viscount* of Le Mans, who had a castle hen, 

 of which the remain* nerve a* a prison. The townsmen manufacture 

 drugget, serge, and prunella. Then an two bridges over the Sarthe 

 ben. Lo-PtrUStntard, population 2583, on the Huiene, was the 

 eene of a conference in 118, between Henry IL of England and 

 Philippe-Auguste of France. It wa* shortly after taken by Philippe : 

 it wa* taken in 1424 by the English, under the Earl of Salisbury ; 

 and in the reign of Henri IV., in 1590, by the Prince of Conti. 

 The town ha* a handsome gothic church, and an hospital. The old 

 wall* of the town remain ; and then is a castle with keep and tower* 

 in pretty good preservation. The principal manufacture is of coarse 

 becked linens for the colonies; linen bleaching i* also carried on ; 

 then an tiUwork*, and tan, flour, and fulling-mill,-. BotmttabU, 

 population 51 8 in the commune, is between the Orne and the Huisne. 



3. In the third arrondiseement the chief town i* St.-L'alau, anciently 

 called Anille, from the brook on which it stands, not far from the 

 right \ank of the Braye ; it received it* present name from St-Calaia, 

 who founded a monastery ben in the 6th century. The town lie* in 

 a hollow, amid hill* covered with scanty crop* of corn, 29 mile* E. 



Mo. Dfv. VOL. rr. 



by S. from Le-Mans. It has an interesting gothic church and manu- 

 factures of serge and other woollens, cottons, linens, leather, and 

 glass. The town has a tribunal of first instance and a college : popu- 

 lation of the commune, 3804. Vibrayf, population 3094, has iron- 

 works, tan-yards, and an hospital. Seae-tur-Braye, population 2000, 

 when cotton-goods, wax-candles, and paper are made. C/ttitcau-du- 

 Loire, situated on the Loire, built on the slope of a hill 22 miles 

 S.W. from St-Calais, population 3029, gets its name from an ancient 

 castle of the count* of Anjou, erected in the llth and demolished in 

 the 18th century. The older part of the town is badly laid out. and 

 is composed of steep, narrow, and ill-built streets; but the street, 

 along which the road from Le-Mans to Tours passes, is straight and 

 composed of neat stone houses with gardens ; it traverses a handsome 

 and regular square, planted with trees and serving as a public walk, 

 on the site of the ancient castle. The rocks in the neighbourhood 

 of the town are excavated so as to form cellars, and in many instances 

 dwelling places inhabited by linen weavers, vine-dressers, and labourers. 

 There are at Chatean-du-Loir an hospital, a theatre, public baths, and 

 a college. Linens, leather, and cotton yarn are manufactured ; cattle, 

 wood, com, and wine are sold. Grand- Luct (13 miles W. by S. from 

 St. -Calais), on the Veuve, which flows into the Elangsort, population 

 2354, wa* rebuilt after a fire in 1786. It consists of four regularly 

 built street* which abut on a central square. Much trade in corn 

 and cattle is carried on. Bouloire, on the Tortue, which joius a feeder 

 of the Huisne : population, 2100. 



4. In the fourth arrondinement the chief town is La-Flicke : popu- 

 lation, 6543 in the commune. It is agreeably situated in the pleasant 

 valley of the Loir, 25 miles S. by W. from Le-Mans. It consists of 

 three principal streets, two of them parallel to each other running 

 through the town for the distance of about half a mile, and theHhird 

 at right angle* to them ; together with a few smaller streets or lanes. 

 The two parallel street* are straight, wide, well-built, and well paved ; 

 one of them is partly lined by the extensive buildings of the military 

 school. The principal public buildings are the town-hall, the pariah 

 church, and the military school just named. This school occupies a royal 

 palace built by Henri IV., and afterwards bestowed by him on the 

 Jesuit* for a college. On the suppression of the Jesuits, in 1762, it 

 was converted by Louis XV. into a military school ; and after being 

 suppressed at the revolution, wa* revived by Louis XVIII. Prince 

 Eugene, Deecartea, and the astronomer Picard were educated here 

 while the Jesuit* had the place. The buildings are arranged round 

 five court*; the principal of which, with it* adjacent garden, is very 

 handsome. The principal gateway is adorned with sculptured orna- 

 ment* and a bust of Henri IV. There is also a large park, which is 

 embellished by the running water brought from a distance of two or 

 three miles for the supply of the building. There is a handsome chapel 

 in the institution, a library of 25,000 volumes, and a gallery of 

 painting*. The town ha* a theatre and two public bathing establish- 

 ments. The trade of La-Fleche consists chiefly of corn, hay, wine, 

 poultry, and game. Linen, hosiery, gloves, leather, and glue are 

 manufactured. Lt-LwU, population 3395, on the left bank of the 

 Loir, 12 mile* S.K. from La-Fleche, consist, of well-built houses, but 

 it* an very irregularly laid out. It i* commanded by an 

 castle, whose massive quadrangular walls, situated on an 

 eminence overlooking the Loir, and flanked by enormous round towers, 

 one of them in ruins, present a striking appearance. The inhabitant* 

 trad* in leather, and cattle. PtmtvaUain, population 2019, 14 mile* 

 E. from La-Fleche, near the Lone, ha* some trade in cattle and swine. 

 An obelisk mark* the spot near the town on which Bernard Uugiiesclin 

 defeated the English in 1369. SabU, population 4348, on the Sarthe, 16 

 mile* N.W. from La-Fleche, wa. anciently a place of strength, but 

 ite fortification* have been entirely demolished. The streets are 

 narrow and crooked ; there is a small but pleasant boulevard raised 

 like a trrraco along the bank of the Sarthe, which forms a semi- 

 circular bend round the town. There is a bridge over the river, built 

 of marble quarried near the town, which, though in its rough state 

 of a slate colour, become* of a deep black with veins of white when 

 polished. There i* a handsome mansion on a hill above the town, 

 built in the beginning of the last century, by Mansard, for the 

 brother of Colbert, on the site of an ancient castle of the dukes of 

 Maine. A considerable manufacture of glove* i* carried on ; and there 

 i* a good trade in corn, fruit, and the marble quarried near the town. 



Thi* department, with that of Mayenne, constitutes the diocese of 

 Le-Mans, the bishop of which is a suffragan of the archbishop of 

 Tour*. It is in the jurisdiction of the Imperial Court Royale of 

 Anger*, and within the limit* of the University-Academy of Caen, 

 and in the 18th Military Division, the head-quarter* of which are at 

 Tour*. It sends four members to the Legislative Chamber of the 



;;. |'ir 



>.\i:i"M. OLD Wa tat \ 

 SARUS, RIVER. [AHATOLIA.] 

 8ARVITZ. [AUSTRIA.] 

 SARZANA. [OKNOA.] 

 SARZKAi;. [MoRBlHAlf.] 



\.\ frill-. WAN. [HUMOR'S BAT TIRRITORIIS.] 

 8ASSARI. [SARDKJXA.] 

 SATEKLAND. [OLDMBOBO.] 

 SATIMANOALCJM. [CouoATOU.] 



