VOSGES. 



VOSGES MOUNTAINS. 



1018 



The vineyards cover about 11,000 acres, and the orchards and 

 gardens occupy about the Kane space. The produce of the vineyards 

 is about 5 million gallon* a year of ordinary red wine. The quantity 

 of stone-fruita grown is considerable ; among them arc the quetch or 

 German plum, and the cherry from which kirschwasser is made. 



The woodlands have an area of above 300,000 acres, and the forests 

 and wastes 170,000 acre*. More than 300 saw-mill?, moved by water, 

 are employed in sawing deals, which are floated down the Meurthe 

 and the Moselle to Metz; and staves, which are floated down the 

 Coney into the Sadne. Game and fish are plentiful. 



The department of Vosges is one of the principal manufacturing 

 department* in France. In the arrondissement of Epinal are iron- 

 works, numerous paper-mills, saw-mills, potteries, and tanneries ; in 

 the arrondissement of Mirecourt are glass-works and iron-worts, and 

 a considerable manufacture of lace and musical instruments ; in that 

 of Neufchateau are oil-mills, paper-mills, saw-mills, iron-works, and 

 manufactures of musical instruments and shoes ; in that of Remire- 

 mont, potash and other chemical products, kirschwasier, and paper 

 are made ; and in that of St-Diu wooden shoes, wooden wares, cotton- 

 yarn and other cotton goods, paper, and wrought iron. The exporta- 

 tion of cheese and timber from the department is very great. 



The department is divided into five arrondissementa, which, with 

 their population, are as follows : 



1. In the first arrondiatement the chief town is fpinol, which is 

 also the capital of the whole department. [KriXAL.] RambtrrilUn, 

 a well-built town with 4800 inhabitant*, is situated on the right bank 

 of the Murtagnc, over which U a stone bridge communicating with a 

 suburb on the opposite bank. The townsmen manufacture COOTS* 

 woollen-cloth, linen, paper, leather, earthenware, madder, iron, and 

 jewellery. Considerable trade U carried on in corn, hrmp, iron, paper, 

 and hop*. The town lias an hospital and a public library of 10,000 

 volumes. 



-. lu the second arrondiasement the chief town, Mirecourt, on the 

 Madon, 17 miles N.W. from Spinal, has tribunals of first instance 

 and of commerce, a public library of 7000 volume*, and 6194 inhabit- 

 ant*. The town is in a pleasant and highly-cultivated district, but is 

 ill built. The townsmen are chiefly engaged in the manufacture of 

 musical instruments; a great number of church organs and bird-organs, 

 anil uf base-viols, violin*, guitar*, and other stringed instruments are 

 made. Lace, leather, and wooden ware* are also manufactured ; and 

 trade is carried on in wine, brandy, and sheep. There are four yearly 

 fain. Mirecourt ha* several fountain*, and a handsome hospital. 

 dutmtt, OD the left bank of the Moselle, over which is a handsome 

 briHge, has a population of about 2900, who trad* in corn, wine, wood, 

 hides, gypsum, and lace, and manufacture lace, kirschwas*er, and 

 leather. l-'ontcnoit-U-Chdieau, on the Coney, and JJarney, on the Soone, 

 wen formerly place* of strength. 



3. fu the third arrondissement the chief town, Neufckdteau, on the 

 Mouxon, near it* junction with the Meuae, 37 mile* N.W. from fipinal, 

 ha* a tribunal of first instance, a college, a public library of 8000 

 volumes, and 3589 inhabitant*. It is a well-built town, and stands 

 on a small eminence surrounded by lofti.r bill*. The townsmen 

 manufacture coarse woollen-cloth, swanskin, cotton counterpane*, 

 wicker war**, and nail* and brad*; and trade in wood, iron, and hard- 

 wares. La-ltarekt, near the source of the Mouxon, has about 2000 

 inhabitant*, wrought-iron works, awl oil-mill*. It was the native place 

 of Ouillaurae de la Marclie, who founded the college of La Marcho at 

 Pan*. The village of Itomremi, on the left bank of the Menae, close 

 to the north-writ border of the department, posaesms historical 

 interest a* the birth-place of Jeanne or Joan of Arc (1412) : it take* 

 from this circumstance the distinctive epithet of Uomrmt-ia-J'ucclle. 

 The house in which Jeanne was born is still standing near tlie church, 

 and U easily recognised by it* gothic doorway surmounted by three 

 escutcheons with fleurs-de-lis, and by an ancient statue representing 

 the maid covered with her armour. It has become national property 

 by purchase, and near it a school for the girls of the village has been 

 built, and placed under the direction of the Suiter* of Charity. A 

 monument in honour of Jeanne d'Arc was inaugurated in 1820: it 

 consists of a fountain with a quadrangular base, from which rise four 

 isolated pilasters supporting aa entablature with two fronts, and sur- 

 mounted by a bust of the heroine. It stands in the public place of the 

 Tillage, and has this simple inscription: "A la mdmoire de Jeanne 

 d'Arc"" To the memory of Jeanne d'Arc." 



4. In the fourth arrondiasement the chief town is Jleminmont, which 

 atand* on the Moselle, at the foot of the Paucities Mountains, 17 miles 



1, and ha* 5191 inhabitant*. Krtniremont takes it* 

 ' from K jinaric, a noble of the early Prankish period, who had a 



castle on an eminence near the town. He founded on the eminence 

 two abbeys (A.D. 620), one for monks, the other for nuns, and en- 

 dowed them with all his possessions. These abbeys having been 

 destroyed in the 10th century, were rebuilt iu the plain. The most 

 important of the two waa that for lady-canonesses, who were not 

 bound by a monastic vow, but none were admitted who could not 

 prove tho nobility of their family for four generations : the abbess 

 was a princess of the empire, and enjoyed the prerogatives and main- 

 tained the state of a sovereign. The abbey was rebuilt in 1752, by 

 Anne Charlotte of Lorraine, then abbess. The abbey church, now 

 the parish church, is a handsome structure in the Italian style. The 

 principal streets of Kemiremont are watered by a brook which flows 

 into the Moselle : the houses are old and not well built, but there are 

 some pleasant promenades. There are a college, a public library of 

 5000 volumes, an hospital, and a tribunal of first instance in the town. 

 The manufactures comprise cotton?, paper, leather, wrought-iron, 

 potash, and kirschwasser ; the trade in wood, iron, hemp, cattle, 

 cheese, and medicinal herbs is important. There are numerous saw- 

 mills driven by water-power in the neighbourhood. Plombiira, a 

 small village situated in a vale-head of the Paucities Mountains, is 

 celebrated for it* warm mineral springs, and for a beautiful church, 

 built by Stanislas Leckzinski, duke of Lorraine. 



5. In th- fifth arrondissement the chief town, St.-Dti, is situated 

 on the Meurthe, and has a tribunal of first instance, a public 

 library of 10,000 volumes, an ecclesiastical college, and 8692 inhabit- 

 ants. The town, which is well-built and surrounded with a wall, fives 

 title to a bishop, whose diocese is the department of Voages. Cotton 

 fabrics and potash are manufactured, and in the neighbourhood are 

 paper-mills, iron-works, and wire-factories. Among the other towns, 

 all of which are small, may be named Kaon L'f.tape, on tho Meurthc, 

 population 3500 for the whole commune ; Senonet, N. of St.-Di<5, on 

 the Rabodot, population 2500 for the whole commune ; and Qirardmer 

 or Gcromf, on the Valogne, population 5625 for the whola commune. 

 Kaon 1'fitape is an old town, poorly built, at tho foot of n bill. 

 Ge'rardmer has considerable trade in cheese, and iu wooden w.iro.i and 

 wooden hoe* made in the neighbourhood. It consists uf a number 

 of bauilets and country houses built without regularity, iu a valley 

 on the eastern shore of the Lake of G<5rardmer, 14 miles S. from 

 3t.-Di<5. In the middle of a long irregular street xtatnU a handsome 

 pariah church. In the commune are many saw-mills driven by water 

 power. 



The department constitutes the dioceso of St-Did, the bishop of 

 which is a suffragan of the archbishop of Be*on;on : it U iu the 

 jurisdiction of the Imperial Court, and within the limit* of the Uni- 

 versity-Academy of Nancy, and is comprehended in tho 5th Military 

 Division, of which the head-quart.- are at Metz. It returns three 

 members to the Legislative Body of the Pronch empire. 



VOSUES MOUNTAINS (Wasgau, Vogeeen), a chain of mountains . 

 bounding the valley of the Hhiuo on the west from tho neighbourhood 

 of Muhlhausen to that of Maycnco. The chain in partly in Prance, 

 and partly in the Khenish province of Bavaria, and in the territory of 

 Hesse Darmstadt in Germany. 



The Voggeg unite on the south-west with the Paucities, and so with 

 the C'ute-d'Or, and ultimately with the CoVennes ; and on the south, 

 they unite with the offset* of the Jura. Ctesar calls the range Vosegus, 

 and evidently included the Paucille* under the name, since he places 

 in them the source of the Mosa, or Mouse, which is far westward of 

 the Voages in the present more limited acceptation of tho namo. The 

 Vosges extend more than 170 miles from the depression through which 

 the Khone-and-Khiue Canal passes, between Bdfort and Altkirch, to 

 the valley of the Ithine, at the elbow formed by that river between 

 Mayence and Bingen. The breadth of the range varies. In the 

 northern part, about Mont-Tonnerre, it is nearly 30 miles ; but this 

 breadth comprehends the lower slopes as well as the higher part* of 

 the range. West of Strasbourg, between the valleys of tho Ilhine and 

 the Saar, or Sarre, tho breadth is about 20 miles. Between Colmar 

 and Plombieres, wherj a branch extends westward from the principal 

 range, tho breadth i* nearly 40 mile*. Another branch extend* in a 

 south-western direction from the southern extremity of tho main chain 

 in the direction of VesouL 



The loftiest summits of the range are iu a tolerably direct liue, 

 extending from Mont-Tonnerre, iu the llhenish province of Bavaria, 

 to the Bullon-d'Alsace, near Giromagny, in the department of iluut- 

 Ithin in France ; and in a line extending nearly at right angles to tho 

 foregoing, from the Ballon-d' Alsace toward* I'limibieren. The foil 

 are some of the principal summits, with their respective heights iu 

 feet: Ballon-de-Lure,3721; Ballon-do-Servance,3970; liillon d' Alsace, 

 4124 all near the source* and upper waters of the Moselle aud Oignon : 

 Ballon-de-Soultz, or De Guebwiller, 4695; Le-Haut d'llouec, 4391; 

 Les-Chaumes, 4203 ; Le-Bressoir, 4019, near the source of the Meurthe ; 

 Le-Champ-de-Peu, 3537, near Schirnieck ; Le-Grand-Uounoii, 3314, at 

 the source of tho Saar, or Sarre; Mout-Tonnerre, 2921. 



The part of the ran.-e which is north of the valley of the Bruche is 

 sometimes termed Lee-Busses- Vosges, or Lower Vosges, and is known 

 to the Germans by the name of IJardt. The Hhiuo slope of tho Vosges 

 eonsUts of a succession of steep declivities, and tho valleys on this aidu 

 of the range arc deeper than those of tho west side, where a slightly 

 undulated surface gradually descend* into the plain of Lorraine. 



