VELEZ MALAGA. 



VENDEE. 



936 



table dates at the latest from about the middle of the 8th. century of 

 Rome. The inscription seems to have been a copy of a law which 

 prescribed to the municipalities of Gallia Cisalpina a constant rule of 

 procedure. Most of the objects found iii this ancient town are now in 

 the museum of Parma. 



In the centre of the buildings discovered are the forum, on the left 

 the amphitheatre, on the right the baths, and at the south end the 

 basilica. Among the most remarkable objects in the forum are the 

 remains of the marble tables and seats of the money-changers, or 

 perhaps officers of the treasury, and the inscription, originally of 

 bronze letters, inserted in the stone pavement of the centre of the 

 forum. A doric portico ran round three sides of the area of the 

 forum, interrupted only on the north by the portico of a small amphi- 

 prostyle temple, and was stopped ou the south by the wall of the 

 basilica. The basilica contained the twelve marble statues preserved 

 in the museum at Parma. The city was well provided with sewers 

 and drams. The buildings were constructed of rough materials, and 

 stuccoed and painted. A painted fragment is preserved in the 

 museum at Parma, showing that the taste for arabesque decoration 

 was the same as in the south of Italy. Bricks were used to make the 

 foundations level Some of the bricks are stamped with the maker's 

 name. A few mosaic floors have been removed to the floor of the 

 museum in Parma. 



VELEZ MALAGA. [GKA.VADA.] 



VELIA. [PmsciPAio CJTBA.) 



VKLINO, MONTE. [ABRUZZO.] 



VELINO, RIVER [KIETL] 



YKLLETRI, a city in the States of the Church, prettily situated 

 on the lower (lopes of the Monte Artemisio (which forms the northern 

 boundary of the Pontine Marshes), at a distance of 16 miles S.E. from 

 Rome, and has 12,500 inhabitant*. It is an ill-built town, with 

 narrow and inconvenient streets ; but the climate is healthy. The 

 town is the residence of a Cardinal Legate, and conjointly with Ostia 

 gives title to a bishop. There is a spacious piazza, or square, named 

 from the church of Santa Maria, in Trivio, which is surmounted by 

 a lofty campanile, erected in 1353. The principal structures are the 

 cathedral of San Clemen te, rebuilt in 1660; the church of Santa 

 Maria del Orto ; the Pallazzo Publico, or town-hall, which was built 

 by Bramante ; the Ginetti, or Lancelloti palace, which was the head- 

 quarters of Carlo Borbone during the battle of Velletri, and is now 

 ueseiteil ; and the Borgia Palace, formerly famous for its museum. 

 The town is surrounded by old turreted walls crumbling to ruin. 

 The beauty, majestic bearing, and graceful costume of the women of 

 Velletri are celebrated by travellers. 



Velletri occupies the aiU of the Volscian VtlUrct, which after long 

 hostilities with Home was destroyed, and the inhabitants removed to 

 the city on the Tiber. The city seem* however to have been after- 

 wards rebuilt. Augustus Caesar was born at Velitrso. It was occupied 

 by Belisarius in the 6th century, and suffered severely in the Lom- 

 bard invasion subsequently. The hills north of the town were the 

 scene of Carlo Borbone's great victory over the Austrian* in 1734, 

 which secured the kingdom of the Two Sicilies to the Spanish 

 Bourbons. 



Velletri is the capital of the Legation, or province of Velletri, which 

 has an area of 629 square miles, and a population of 59,356 (in 1850). 

 The province lie* between the Comarca-di-Roma and the Neapolitan 

 frontier, and includes a vast extent of marsh-land, which U infested 

 by malaria in summer and autumn. Corn, wine of good quality, and 

 cattle are among the chief products. 



VELLORE ( Fe/ur), a town and fortress in Hindustan, is situated in 

 a small district of the same name, in the presidency of Madras, on the 

 right bank of the river Palar, in 12 55' N. lat, 79 12' E. long., about 

 20 miles W. from Arcot by road. Vellore is a large fortress, contain- 

 ing spacious barracks and a curious pagoda, commanding the main 

 road from the coast of the Carnatic to the province of Mysore. The 

 fortress is surrounded by a strong stone wall, with bastions and round 

 towers, and by a wide and deep ditch. The town, which is large and 

 populous, is connected with the fortress by extensive outworks. 



V KNA r'lii ). [LAVORO, TBBA DL] 



VKNAIS.SIX, LE. [Com*! VKIAHMH.] 



VKN'ASQUE. [AvTo.l 



VK.VCE. [VAB.J 



VKNDEE, a department in the west of France, is bounded N. by 

 Loire-Inferieure, N.E. by Haioe-et-Loire, E. and S.E. by Deux-Sevres, 

 S. by Charente-Infeneure, and S.W. and W. by the Atlantic Ocean. 

 IU greatest length from north-west to south-east is 82 miles; its 

 neatest breadth, at right angles to the length, is 56 miles. This 

 department comprehends also the islands of Boin,iNoirmoutier, and 

 Dieu. The whole is comprehended between 46 18' and 47 4' N. lat, 

 35' and 2 30' W. long. The area of the department is 2596 square 

 mile*. The population in 1851 was 383,734. 



The coast of this department U generally low. The north-western 

 ooast f Jrms, with the islands of Boin and Noirmoutier, the Bay of 

 Bourgneuf. The south-western coast forms, with the Isle of !', the 

 gulf Pertuis-Breton. The shore is low, and lined with marshes, which 

 rest on the north-west on a bed of sand, and on the south-west on a 

 very thick stratum of stiff clay. Industry has rendered these marshes 

 remarkable for fertility; they are intersected in every direction by 



ditches for the purpose of drainage. The island of Boin is insulated 

 only by a small river, Le Dain, which is not navigable. It is united to 

 the mainland by a causeway across the Dain. The island appears to be 

 formed by alluvial deposits on a limestone rock ; and is about 7 miles 

 long and 4 miles wide. Noirmoutier protects the Bay of Bourgneuf 

 to seaward : it is about 12 miles long from north-north-west to south- 

 south-east, and in one part nearly 5 miles broad. It is separated from 

 the mainland at its south-eastern extremity by a narrow channel about 

 half a mile across. The coast of the island is lined in some parts by 

 sand-hills or low flat rocks, in others by sands and shoals extending 

 far out to sea; on the east side, in the Bay of Bourgueuf, is a small 

 road or anchorage. The soil of the island is very fertile ; sea-weed ia 

 used for manure ; some of the most productive parts are considerably 

 below the level of the sea, from which they are protected by embank- 

 ments. The produce of the island includes grain, pulse, fruit, salt 

 (nude in the salt-marshes), and good cheese. The oyster fishery is 

 actively carried on ; and the inhabitants, who amount to about 7000, 

 are excellent seamen. The lie <f Yeu lies farther out from the main- 

 land, from the nearest part of which it is distant more than 10 miles : 

 its chief town, St.-A ubin, which U in a central position, is in 46 42' 

 N. lat, and about 2 22' W. long. The length of the island is about 

 6 miles ; its breadth about 3 miles. Its western coast, towards tha 

 open sea, is high and inaccessible ; the eastern coast is low and flat, 

 affording ready and safe access to small boats. The whole island is 

 little else than a vast granitic rock, covered with a vegetable soil three 

 feet in thickness in the lower part, but ia the higher ground so thin 

 as to leave the rock almost bare. 



The department is crossed on the north-eastern side by the heights, 

 which extend from the mountain-district of central France north- 

 westward to the mouth of the Loire. These heights cross just within 

 the border of the department, here formed by the little river S6vre- 

 Nautaise, the valley of which they overlook. The hills are none of 

 them lofty, having their greatest elevatioa under 500 feet ; but they 

 overspread a considerable tract These higher grounds consist for 

 the most part of granitic or other primitive or lower secondary rocks : 

 the flat country, which extends southward and westward towards the 

 coast, is occupied chiefly by the limestones, and other formations 

 intervening between the cretaceous and new red-sandstone groups. 

 The department has three coal-mines, Home iron-works, and a number 

 of mineral springs. The manufacture of salt is actively carried on 

 in the marshes which line the coast 



The greater part of the department is drained by several small 

 rivers, which flow into the Atlantic; but the northern and north- 

 eastern parts belong to the basin of the Loire, and are drained by its 

 two tributaries, the Sevre-Nantaise, with its affluent the Maine 

 (formed by the juncture of the Grande Maine and Petite Maine) and 

 the Boulogne, which flows into the Lake of Grand Lieu, and then, 

 under the name of Acheneau, reaches the Loire. The rivers which 

 flow directly into the Atlantic are the Sevce-Niortai.se, which, with 

 its feeders the Autizc and the Vendee, drains the south-eastern part ; 

 the Lay, formed by the junction of Le-Grand Lay and Le-Petit Lay, 

 which, with its affluents, drains the central and south-western parts ; 

 and the Gui-Cbatenay, the Ausance, the Jaunay, the Vic, and several 

 canals, drain the western and north-western sides of the department. 

 The Sovre-Niortaiae is navigable in all the part which is in this 

 department or on the boundary ; the Autize is navigable for about 

 6 miles above iU junction with the Sevre-Niortaise, and the Vendee 

 (which gives name to the department) from Fontenay about 16 miles 

 above its junction with the same river; the Lay has by labour been 

 made navigable for about 20 miles above its outfall ; ami the Vic is 

 navigable for about 5 miles. The only navigable canal is that of 

 Lucon, which has a course due south, 9 miles from the town of Lu^ou, 

 into the road of Aiguillon, south of which is a remarkable spit of 

 land projecting about 3 miles into the sea. The department is crossed 

 by 5 imperial, 16 departmental, and 11 military roads. 



The climate varies with the elevation of the soil The district of 

 Le-Bocage in the north and north-east of the department, is the most 

 elevated and the healthiest This district, which extends into the 

 adjacent departments, derives its name from the abundance of wood 

 found in it, rather however in the form of copse or thicket, than of 

 forest, though intermingled with the underwood are forest-trees, as 

 oak, ash, chestnut, and elm. The soil of this part is chiefly a stiff 

 loam, sometimes sandy, and at other times clayey. The valleys which 

 intersect this hilly country are watered by numerous brooks, and 

 afford good meadow-land ; the bills are cultivated, except on the north 

 side of the higher hills, where little grows except heath and furze. 

 The Bocage covers about two-fifths of the whole department. The 

 temperature is colder than in the rest of the department ; but the air 

 U purer : the summer is usually very dry, the winter wet The 

 inhabitants are the most robust in the department, and are remark- 

 able for the simplicity of their manners, and their attachment to old 

 opinions and habits. 



The district which extends between the Bocoga and the southern 

 boundary of the department is called the Plain, and has an extent of 

 nearly 300 square miles: it is the most fertile district in the depart- 

 ment, and has a clayey soil resting upon limestone. 



The rest of the department consists of the Maraii, or the Marshes, 

 the most extensive district, but the most unhealthy, tho air being 



