V.TI - 



IIAUTKS. 



M 



. 

 " 



\ - '.. ' . .-..: 



BtosTof Mtamn the snow* begin to fall on the high mmit 

 rjMseW or earlier all the valleys an covered up ami 

 i; during thi* period the inhabitant* of 



Qflp to 



'an models of engineering skill 



that of 



At the 



mountains; by 



r mi * ^w.^. r ana remain K 

 during thi* period the inhabitant* of the high 

 with their neighbours. By 



e-otninuo 



the end of May the BOW KM disappeared from the mountain*. The 

 apriac i. rainy and cold, and frequently attended with an ea* wind 

 JS^SiiSU to eariy veg*e*in. the heat it, .the narrow valley., 

 iTeumnMr. i* great; but even in that seaeon a oold violent north wind, 

 called 'hie*,' not (infrequent. But the most destructive hurricane* 

 blow from the west, rooting up tree* and unroofing houses. Hailstorms 

 and impetuous rain* are frequent between June and September. 

 The autumn fa a very delightful season, eometimei extending into 



The mountain* an principally composed of limestone, but they 

 contain also rocks of primitive formation, granite, quarto, mica, felspar, 

 Ye. The chief metallic minerals an lead, iron, and some copper; 

 marble, porphyry, granite, talc, gypsum, lithographic ijones, slate, and 

 rook-crystal an quarried. Coal mine* an worked. There are mineral 

 spring, at everal point* of the department 



The soil in the valleys is for the most part far from [fertile, and 

 the inhabitant* of some of the high valley* have greet difficulty in 

 raking what suffices for a scanty subsistence. The principal crops 

 ban an potatoes, osta, and some barley. In the valley of the 

 Ouieane, and aome others in the neighbourhood of BrUncon, however, 

 by mean* of a careful garden cultivation, the application of manure, 

 and a regular y*tam of irrigation, the light sandy soil is made to 

 yield good crop*. In the more southern valleys, which are wider, 

 the sou is better, and the climate more genial The chief object* of 

 cultivation an corn, potatoes, the vine, pulse, and nuts for oil. 



Th* mountains an in many places rich in pasture, and are frequented 

 during the summer by lowland flock* from the neighbourhood of the 

 Rhone, in the manner described in the article on Basson Aloes. (Amu, 

 BASSO.] In Mid-October, the vast flocks, with fleeces by this time 

 white w the snow which now begins to fall, commence their descent, 

 leading the way to the lower pasture*, and thence to the valley of the 

 Rhone for the winter. After them come the cows, then the asses 

 loaded with the chssee made during the sojourn on the Alp, with the 

 dairy and a few cooking vessels, and with such youngsters as are not 

 yet able to support the fatigue of the journey on foot. 



The vegetable tone of the French Alps reaches to about 7380 feet 

 above the see-level, at which elevation are seen only the saxifrages, 

 the gentian*, the chrysanthemums, dwarf willows, ftc. The pine 

 tniirLhss as Ugh up a* 6500 feet; the beech is found up to 4920 feet; 

 the oak to 2V50 feet ; and the vine to about 2800 feet above the sea. 

 The cone of cultivation extends to about 7000 feet above the sea, not 

 y, bat in spote and favourable situation* here and there. A 

 i 880 feet in height make* a difference of five days in the 

 r of the crops. At Ribiers, in the lower part of the valley of the 

 eh and 1M8 feet above the sea, the harvest i* commenced, when 

 at He-Venn, in the canton of Aiguille*, near the Guil, at the height of 

 868 fact, the rye is only beginning to sprout. The highest constantly 

 inhabited point in the department, is the Fort-de-nnfernet, which 

 Is included in the fortifications of Briancon, and is 7872 feet above 

 these*. 



About 1,540.000 gallons of wine an made annually; it is, both red 

 and while, of very inferior quality. Other products, besides those 

 already named an chestnut*, hemp, manna -de -Briancon (a gum 

 eoDeated from the leave* of the larch), raps* sad, and aromatic and 

 vulnerary herb*, of which then an above 2700 species in these moun 

 tain*. There ia a good breed of sheep and cow*, the numbers of which 

 h the ih|iiilM*nl. in 1844, wen respectively about 40,000 and 80,000 

 HHk eon* form the principal source of wealth in many of the valleys. 

 Ooat* umbered about 18,000 ; a****, which an the principal beast* 

 of harden. 10,000 ; bones and mules, which an small, about 0000 

 and pkas about 10,000; wild deer and small game an abundant. 

 Bean, valve*, wild oats, lynxes, foxes, marmots, moles, badgers, and 

 bird* of tny at* oommon. Aaong the Uat isth* great Alpine vulture 

 toraafcUU* ensMy to the look* than even the earnivoron* 



it. turpentine, and large quantities of wool, the principal entre] 

 which article i* at Veyne, The flesh of the chamois is sold in several 

 market*, especially in that of Abriea, a village on the Guil, a* commonly 

 as mutton is sold elsewhere. 



About 5000 of the male population emigrate during the long winter 

 n the neighbouring countries, when they act as teachers, hawkers, 

 emp-dreasers, carters, nhjieeetamgeii, skin-dreesers, knife-grinders, 

 wrk-butchers, coach-driven, and marmot-exhibitors. Whilst these 

 migrant*, who are mostly the younger sons of families, are absent 

 rom home, the parent* are engaged in making coarse woollen stuffs ; 

 n this they an assisted by their elder sons, who also during the long 

 winter teach the younger children the elements of education. Inmost 

 nstances the husband, wife, children, and cattle are all housed together 

 n the high valleys during the rude winter months. This is a necessity 

 f their position during the deep mow and intense oold of winter. A 

 reat number of fair* are held in the department In the autumn 

 kin, which are principally for the sale of stock and clothing and are 

 requented by many lowland farmers, the young men who wish to hire 

 bemselves as teachers are known by wearing a pen in their hatband. 

 Llmost all the peasantry can read, write, and count ; and a great 

 >roportion of them are able to follow some trade or craft, which the 

 ong confinement in winter has made them learn in the first instance, 

 wrnaps as a pastime. 



The entire surface of the department contains 1,367,577, acres, 



divided into 1,195,994 parcels. Of the whole area 240,897 acres 



re under tillage; 68,408 acres are grass land; 14,582 are under 



ines ; 190,836 acres are occupied by productive forests ; 2436 acres 



re laid out in orchards, nurseries, gardens, and willow and osier phm- 



tations; 544,783 acre* consist of heaths and barren moors; 26,841 are 



ccupied as roads, streets, squares, ftc, ; 40,371 with rivers, lake*, 



marshes, ponds, and irrigating rills ; 246,257 acres are wild forest and 



unproductive hind ; 1782 acres are occupied with public and private 



buildings and cemeteries. 



The department is divided into three arrondissementa, which with 

 their subdivisions and population are as follows : 







variety and beauty an met with 

 even in the region of perpetual snow 

 try. properly o called, then is dtUr Ir-t 

 *oohen stocking*, aome linen, hata, in. 



. CUWtoft'TnVni, M*ttQJfs MMttMt", MX* OTMMI 



the produce*, then an 407 wind- and water mill*. 

 * femndn-, and 1S7 workshops of different kinds in 

 The nmmtn, I* chiefly in agricultural product*, 



The first arrondiiwement U named from ita chief town '"/ 

 s also the capital of the department, situated in a valley, watered by 

 .wo small streams, the Bonne and the Luye, at the point where the 

 road from Marseille to Lyon through Grenoble is joined by the road 

 to Italy over Mont-Gen&vre, in 44 33' SO" N. lat., 6 6' 53* E.long. ; 

 344 miles S.E. from Paris : population 8599. The town is approached 

 through walnut avenues, and surrounded by slopes, on which the vine 

 lourishes at the height of 2558 feet above the sea-level It is a 

 thoroughly ill-built and miserable-looking place notwithstanding its 

 pretty situation. Gap occupies the site of the ancient Vapincum. It 

 lias given title to a bishop since the 5th century. The bishops for a 

 long time were styled princes and count* of Gap. The chief public 

 buildings are the gothic cathedral, in one of the chapels of whirl, is 

 a black marble monument of the Constable de Losdiguicres, decorated 

 with alabaster figures in low-relief; the court-bouse, and the town- 

 ball ; the residences of the prefect and the bishop ; and the theatre. 

 The town is the seat of a tribunal of first instance, of a diocesan 

 seminary, and a communal college. There is a large reservoir, or tank, 

 from which the fire-brigade derive their supply of water in case of fire. 

 The industrial product* are linen, coarse woollens, agricultural instru- 

 ments, leather, and dressed skins. There is some trade in corn, fruit.-, 

 cattle, hides, and wool Gap was sacked and burnt by Victor Amadous 

 of Savoy in 1692. It was formerly the capital of the district of 

 Dauphino 1 , called from it Oapencpis, which is now nearly coincident 

 with the arrondisaement 



Afprtt-la-Veyrut, situated in a fertile well-cultivated district, near 

 the left bank of the Buech, 13 miles W. by S. from (inp, on the road 

 to Valence, population, 809 ; BandmrneUe-dt- Vilrula, sitiiuted in the 

 valley of the torrent Dooulle at the foot of a hill, on which stands the 

 chateau of Vitroles, 18 miles S.W. from Gap, population, 345 ; La- 

 /M/ic-AVwrc, in an exposed plain 6 mile* from Gap, population, 830 ; 

 X>.-Ho*tut, 8 miles Is*, from Gap on the Drac, here passed on a wooden 

 bridge population. 1790 who have saw-mills, dye-houses, and manu- 

 factorie* of coarse woollen*, and household linen ; St.-Etimne, 1 . 

 X.W. from Gap, on the right bank of the Soulouaze a feeder of the 

 Drac ; nut-named m-/Vro/ny, from it* situation in the district .1' I >. 

 of vales, ravine*, and steep mountains, population. 

 in the valley of Godc'mard, 17 miles N. from Gap, near the 



. 



right bank of the Sevraysse, a feeder of the Drac, ]x.piil.iti..n, 1168 ; 

 Laramu, 21 mile* &8LW. from Gap, near the left bank of the Buech, 

 population, 798 ; Orpiem, on the Soyan, a feed' 



8.W. from Gap, population, 872 ; Rikiert, 25 miles 8.8. W. from Gap, 

 in a pretty valley on the right bank of the Buecb, population, 

 oaiu,*k pretty village in the most western angle of the department, 



