115 



AIX. 



AlN. 



146 



narrow rocky gorge, which is spanned by a suspension-bridge. Higher 

 up above Bellegarde and the Perte-du-Rhone (which will be noticed 

 in a subsequent part of this article), the road passes along the defile 

 between the Jura Mountains and the Rhone, which is described by 

 Julius Caesar in the first book of his ' Commentaries." In the centre 

 of the defile, on a high projecting rock, stands the strong Fort de 

 1'Ecluae, partly destroyed by the Austriansin 1814, but since repaired. 

 The road enters the fortress by one drawbridge and leaves it by 

 another. 



Surface. The eastern division of the department, or that situated 

 between the Ain and the Rhone, is almost entirely covered with high 

 mountain-ranges, which form the southern extremity of the system 

 of the Jura Mountains. These ranges run nearly parallel to one 

 another from north to south, where they terminate in bold bluffs on 

 the right bank of the Rh6ne, which river separates them from the 

 Mont-du-C'hat and other offshoote of the Alps of Savoy. The valleys 

 between these mountains are narrow, deep, and furrowed by rapid 

 torrents. The mountain-slopes are steep, in some places naked and 

 perpendicular rock ; but for the most part they are clothed in the 

 open season with pastures. Forests chiefly of fir crown the high 

 mountains. In the more northern part of this region there is but 

 little land fit for tillage; some of the lowest slopes in favourable 

 positions are planted with vines. As the mountains approach the 

 Rhone, however, they dimmish in height and become lees rugged in 

 surface ; the valleys open out wider and there is a considerable breadth 

 of land in hill and dale, yielding corn of all sorts, fruits, pulse, and no 

 inconsiderable quantity of wine. 



The most northern part of this eastern division of the department, 

 forming the arrondissement of Nantua, resembles Switzerland on a 

 small scale. The high mountains ; the deep winding valleys ; huge 

 chasms in the rocks, displaying the component strata of the mountains ; 

 the strong-built chalets, part dairy part cow-house, roofed with strong 

 planks, and situated in the centre of wide f'n-ldn of mountain-pasture, 

 which are inclosed with walls of dry stone ; the cattle, the sheep, the 

 goatn, the majestic solitude, the brawling river, and the foaming 

 cataract, are all here. Nor are alpine lakes wanting, the largest of 

 which is that of Nantua, nearly two miles long, half a mile wide, and 

 1574 feet above the sea-level. Thewholeof this eastern division forms 

 the old province of Bugey, which is now comprised in the arron- 

 dissements of Nantua and Belle}-. 



The northern part of the district between the Ain and the Sadne 

 constitutes the arroudissement of Bourg, formed out of the old 

 province of Bresse. It consists of two distinctly-marked regions 

 formerly called and indeed still commonly spoken of as Upper and 

 Lower Bresse. Upper Bresse, the more northern and eastern region, 

 i covered with the lower offshoots of the Jura Mountains, which 

 stretch for several miles along the Ain and the Suran, and form the 

 watershed between them and the feeders of the Sadne above mentioned. 

 The principal range of these hills is called Reveremont, which has 

 also sometimes given it* name to the whole district. Lower Bresse is 

 a level district extending west of Upper Bresse to the Sadne ; it has 

 a fertile well-cultivated soil, and yields good crops of wheat, rye, 

 barley, maize, hemp, pulse, &c. Along the Sadne and iU feeders there 

 is fine meadow and grass land. In Upper Bresse, which is more of a 

 pastoral character, the slopes of the hills are mostly planted with vines. 

 The southern part of the western division of the department is a 

 portion of the old principality of Dornbes, and now forms the 

 arrondisaement of TreVoux. Its general surface is a dead flat covered 

 with a vegetable soil resting on compact clay. In such a district, 

 without artificial drainage and a natural slope, the rains are sure to 

 lie on the surface, and to form marshes and ponds if not lakes. 

 Accordingly the number of ponds is here very great, covering a total 

 area of above 50,000 acres. They are not all natural, however ; many of 

 them are formed artificially, which is easily done from the nature of 

 the ground ; for on this flat district there are numerous little 

 hillocks at no great distance from each other, and to form a pond it is 

 only necessary to join two or more adjacent hillocks by a dam or 

 dyke. These ponds are of great value ; they are used as fish-farms. 

 The system pursued is this : At the close of autumn a pond is stocked 

 with spawn or fish, which are allowed to remain in it for two years ; 

 during the winter and early spring following of the third year, the 

 dyke is opened, the waters let off, and the fish taken and sold. The 

 emptied pond is then sowed with barley, or more generally with 

 oats, sometimes with wheat ; and after the crop is gathered, the dam 

 is repaired, and the pond again stocked with fish. By this system 

 a pond of 20 acres is said to yield at each fishing-harvest a return of 

 about 1000 francs, or 402. sterling, a satisfactory return from what 

 would otherwise be only a sour marsh. But the whole of this marshy 

 district is extremely unhealthy, thinly peopled, and in summer 

 infested by swarms of mosquitoes, which the French call ' cousins.' 

 Between the marshes and the Sadne a zone of considerable breadth 

 intervenes, thickly peopled and covered with soil of superior quality, 

 which in well cultivated and yields corn, wine, hay, and rich pastures. 

 The total amount of the corn crops, however, falls short of the 

 consumption both in this arrondisgement and all the rest of the 

 department except Bresse. 



,i'Ue. The climate is variable. In the marshy district just 



described it in very damp, and the atmosphere for the greater part of 



OEOO. BIT. VOL. 1. 



the year is loaded with thick unhealthy fogs, which alao affect the 

 adjacent districts. The total annual rain-fall on every inch of surface 

 in this region exceeds 47 inches, which is double of the fall at Paris. 

 The Bresse district has a good and healthy climate. In winter snow 

 falls frequently to the west of the Ain, but except on the Reveremont 

 hills it seldom lies more than a few days. To the east of the Ain the 

 climate is cold, but healthy, and the winters are long. From October 

 to April the ground is deeply covered with snow ; throughout most 

 of the year the atmosphere in this part is perfectly clear and free 

 from clouds. The whole department suffers from cold north winds, 

 which prevail, especially in the mountain-region, from December to 

 March, and sometimes even to May, when they are accompanied by 

 late frosts, very injurious to the young crops. 



Produce. The agricultural products are corn, potatoes, wine, fruits, 

 hay, some hemp and flax, &c. Edible chestnuts are grown in large 

 quantities. In the arrondissement of Belley, black truffles are found, 

 which are highly esteemed ; and the mulberry is grown for the 

 production of silk. Bees are very generally kept ; and vast numbers 

 of poultry, hogs, and cattle are reared and fatted in the Bresse 

 country for the Lyou market. The department was formerly famous 

 for its saddle-horses, but the breed has degenerated. Great attention 

 is paid in the east of the department to the rearing of sheep, which 

 are very numerous. An association at Naz, near Gex, keeps up a 

 flock of about 3000 merinos, and has contributed greatly to the 

 improvement of the native sheep. The department supplies to 

 commerce about 400,000 Ibs. of wool annually. Goats also are 

 numerous. Oxen and mules are used in the plough. Fir, beech, and 

 oak are the common forest-trees. Bears, wolves, foxes, wild cats, and 

 occasionally wild boars, are met with in the forests. Among wild 

 aquatic birds are swans, cranes, ducks, geese, herons, storks, and 

 cormorants. 



Among the mineral products are iron, some traces of copper, 

 marble, alabaster, transparent spar, lithographic stone, marl, potters' 

 clay, fine building stone, which is extensively worked at Villebois, and 

 asphalte, or mineral pitch, of which there is a basin of great extent 

 between Seyssel, Fort-de-rEcluse, and Chatillon-de-Michaille. Vast 

 quantities of asphalte are used in France for making pavements and 

 footpaths in towns. Some peat is dug for fuel in the districts of the 

 marshes. 



Of manufacturing industry there is little. Some good flaxen and 

 hempen fabrics are made ; also coarse woollen cloth for soldiers' 

 clothes, and paper. In the arrondissement of Kantua a large quantity 

 of cheese is made in the chalets during the summer excursion of the 

 cattle to the mountain-pastures. Here also are some cotton and silk 

 mills, and a good deal of watch and clock work is turned out. Other 

 articles of manufacture are tiles, leather, bricks, pottery ; silk, cotton, 

 and woollen yarns ; horn-combs, cutlery of an inferior description, &c. 

 Perhaps the most important industrial establishments of the depart- 

 ment are its corn and saw mills, almost all of which are worked 

 by the abundant water-power of its rivers. At St.-Laurent on the 

 Sadne there is an iron-foundry, a steam flour-mill, and an establish- 

 ment for the manufacture of steam machinery. 



The department being more agricultural than industrial, its com- 

 merce lies rather among the raw products of the farm than the wares 

 of the workshop or the factory. Corn, wine, cattle, pigs, poultry, 

 fish, firewood, deals, oak planks, timber, cheese, wool, and asphalte 

 are the principal items of its commerce. The transit trade between 

 Strasbourg and Marseille, and between Geneva and Bordeaux, is of 

 some importance. The principal corn-markets of the department are 

 those of Bourg, and St.-Laurent. From the mountainous districts 

 there is a large emigration of hemp-dressers, turners, and hawkers of 

 wooden vessels during the winter months to the neighbouring 

 department. 



/itri.iiom and Towns. The department is divided into five arrou- 

 dissements which, with their subdivisions and population, are as 

 follow : 



The first arrondissement is named from BOURQ, the capital formerly 

 of Bresse, and now of the whole department of Ain. B<uj6, situated 

 on and round a small eminence in the plain of Lower Bresse, 16 

 miles N.W. from Bourg, consists of two adjacent villages Bag^- 

 la-Ville, and Bag(5-le-Chatel which have a united population of 2936. 

 Linen, pottery, woollen yarn, tiles, and leather are made here. 

 CryKriat, 5 miles from Bourg : population, 981. Coligny, built on 

 the slope of a hill, 13 miles N.N.E. from Bourg, has 1647 inhabitants. 

 It has given name to the historical family of Coligny, of whose cnstlo 



L 



