ARDECHE. 



ARDECHE. 



430 



above Fahrenheit's zero point. The mean annual rain-fall at Viviers 

 is about 35 inches, and the number of rainy days in a year is 1 02. 

 The climate of the department is said to have become colder within 

 this century, owing, as it is alleged, to the diminution of the forests ; 

 the olive, which was formerly cultivated with success in the arrondis- 

 sement of Tournon, now nourishes only to the south of the Erieux, 

 and the vine has retired from high slopes in the north of the department 

 on which it once prospered. 



The soil, which is generally sandy and light, affords a great variety 

 of productions according to its greater or less elevation. In the 

 sheltered valley of the Rhone the olive and fig are cultivated as far 

 north as the Erieux. Throughout the-whole valley of the Rhone, as 

 well as in the higher district, which commences at a short distance 

 west of the Rhone and extends as far west as a line running north- 

 north-east through Joyeuse, the vine and the mulberry flourish. Farther 

 west and at an elevation higher still there is a district in which beech, 

 oak, and fruit-trees, especially sweet chestnuts, abound. The chestnut 

 forms the ordinary food of the peasantry ; it is grown in immense 

 quantities in the great forests that cover the volcanic region in the 

 basin of the Upper Ardeche, and is exported under the name of)/ 

 de Lyon : in the next higher region the resinous trees, fir, larch, &c., 

 1, and on the high table-lands of the main ridge of the CeVeunes, 

 the snow lies for six or eight months, no vegetables but the 

 aubalpine planto are found to live. 



The high-lands of the department contain much pasturage, to which 

 the flocks and herds of the neighbouring departments are sent to 

 graze. Butter and cheese are made. Sheep, swine, and horned cattle 

 are numerous. Mules, ponies, and goats are reared. The number of 

 horses is small. The inhabitants are laborious and persevering, and 

 in many places make even the mountain-sides productive by building 

 terraces to support the soil ; this is particularly seen in the neighbour- 

 hood of L'Argentiere. In the valleys and hill-slopes near the Rhone 

 all kinds of vegetable productions, corn, pulse and fruits are grown ; 

 and this region is famous for its vineyards and for the growth of silk. 

 But the productive part of the soil forms a small fraction of the surface, 

 and consequently a considerable part of the grain which is necessary 

 for the consumption of the population has to be brought from other 

 departments. Walnuts are grown in large quantities for the purpose 

 of supplying the department with oil. Bees are carefully tended : the 

 honey of the department is excellent. 



The manufacturing industry of the department is important. There 

 are numerous tanneries for the manufacture of shoe and glove leather; 

 paper-mills; and cotton, woollen-cloth, and silk factories. About 

 11,000,000 gallons of red and white wine are made annually. The 

 qualities of the wines are as various almost as the sites on which they 

 are grown; among the most reputed sorts are those of St.-Peray, 

 lamony, St. -Joseph, Comas, &c. The commoner sorts are consumed 

 OH the spot or exported to the departments of Loire, Haute Loire, and 

 Lozdre. Great attention is paid to the rearing of silk-worms ; for this 

 purpose the cultivation of the white mulberry-tree, first introduced 

 into the department by Olivier-de-Serres in the reign of Henri IV., has 

 reached a great development, the number of trees exceeding two 

 Millions. A very large quantity of raw silk of prime quality is annually 

 exported, or worked up in the silk-mills of the department. 



The department contains mines of lead, copper, iron, manganese, 

 antimony, alum, and coal : marble of different colours, lava, and other 

 volcanic products ; gypsum, and porcelain clay ; pumice-stone, granite, 

 quartz, compact limestone, and sandstone abound. Particles of gold 

 are occasionally found in the Rhone, the Ard&che, and the Erieux. 

 Gold is also found mixed with antimony in the mines of the commune 

 of Malbosc. A silver mine was formerly worked at L'Argentiere. At 

 La-Voulta there are iron-works and iron-mines. There are several 

 mineral springs : those of Vals, near Aubenas, and St.-Laurent-les- 

 Bains in the west of the department, are the most frequented. There 

 ia a great number of natural curiosities in the department, such as 

 grottoes, caverns, prismatic rocks, basaltic columns, and craters of 

 extinct volcanoes. 



The department contains an area of 1,331,916 acres. It is divided 

 into three arrondissements, which, with the number of cantons, com- 

 munes, and population in each, are as follows : 



Of the first arrondissement and of the whole department the chief 

 town is /V/ sliest departmental capital in France. It is 



-I on ;i .-ti-r:p hill, 1058 feet above the sea level, between the 

 Ouveze and the M nua which unite below the town, in 



44" 44' N. lat., 4'' 85' :Vi ' K. long., nt a distance of 380 miles S.S.K. 

 from Paris, 70 miles S. by W. from Lyon, and has 4797 inhabitants. 

 The principal street of the town runs along the ridge of the hill, and 

 terminates at cither end in terraces planted with trees, whence a good 

 view is obtained of the adjacent country. Privas has a tribunal of 



otoa. DIV. VOL. I. 



first instance, a Calvinist church, a public library of 2000 volumes, a 

 college, a primary normal school, and au agricultural society. The 

 Reeollet convent is now used partly as a barrack and partly as a court 

 of justice. A large quantity of silk is produced in the canton of 

 Privas, and on all the streams in the neighbourhood of the town there 

 are silk-mills for reeling and throwing the silk. Woollen stuffs, brandy, 

 and leather are manufactured. Two weekly markets are held for the 

 sale of butter, cheese, chestnuts, game, truffles, &c. ; a great number 

 of fat hogs are brought to market in winter ; there are also several 

 cattle fairs. Privas was strongly fortified in the 16th century. It 

 embraced the party of the Prince of Cond(! in 1562, and was unsuccess- 

 fully besieged by the royalist forces in 1574 under the -duke of 

 Montpensier. The town became a stronghold of the Calvinists, who 

 held a synod here in 1612. In 1614 it surrendered to Louis XIII., 

 and its fortifications were dismantled ; these however were soon after 

 repaired by the Calvinists, who recovered the town. In 1629 it was 

 besieged by Louis XIII. in person for above two months, during which 

 the defence was bravely conducted by St.-Andrd-de-Moutbrun ; at last 

 however the town was taken, the houses burnt, and the foi'tifications 

 levelled to the ground. A ubentu, situated near the right bank of the 

 Ardeche, 12 miles S.W. from Privas, has a tribunal of first instance, a 

 college, and 4889 inhabitants. The town stands in the middle of the 

 volcanic region of Vivarais on a steep hill, up which the road from 

 Privas is carried by a series of zigzags. From a distance the town 

 presents a pretty sight, the summits of the principal buildings rising 

 above a mass of verdure. But a near view discovers narrow crooked 

 streets, small squares, and irregularly built houses. The street ho wevfr 

 traversed by the diligence is wide, clean, and passably well built. 

 The town is girt by an old mouldering wall, flanked with towers. 

 The parish church, which is surmounted by a high spire ; the collegiate 

 church, with a flattened dome ; the town-hall, which is crowned with 

 several little turrets ; and the old castle, now converted into public 

 offices, are the most remarkable buildings in Aubenas. There are also 

 an hospital and a college, with a handsome chapel. The town is con- 

 nected by a charming road, among plantations of vines, figs, and 

 mulberries, with the village of Vals, situated about 3 miles N. of 

 Aubenas. The waters of the streams in the neighbourhood of Aubenas 

 are turned to advantage in irrigating the fields and in driving the 

 machinery of a large number of silk-mills. Besides silk, woollen 

 cloth and coloured handkerchiefs are manufactured. The leading 

 market for raw silk in this part of France is held at Aubenas. The 

 town has also a considerable transit trade, and the mountaineers of 

 the CeVennes supply themselves at Aubenas with wine, fruit, and 

 colonial produce. The neighbourhood abounds with truffles, chestnuts, 

 figs, ortolans, &c. The town labours imder the disadvantage of having 

 no spring water ; the supply is from rain or river water. Eounj-Xi .- 

 Andeol, an ancient little town of 4535 inhabitants, is situated 24 miles 

 S. by E. from Privas, on the right bank of the Rhone, which is here 

 crossed by a suspension-bridge. The plain that skirts the Rhone 

 near the town is laid out in vineyards, corn-fields, and meadows planted 

 with olive, mulberry, and fruit-trees, whole forests of which cover the 

 hill slopes inland facing the Rh6ne. In the parish church there is an 

 ancient Roman tomb ; and on the face of a rock from which <i foun- 

 tain springs at the end of the town there are some curious .sculptmvd 

 bas-reliefs, supposed to represent the sacrifice of a bull to the Sun. 

 This town is surnamed from Saint Anddol, who suffered martyrdom 

 here in the reign of Severus. The Calvinists took Bourg-St.-Ande"ol 

 in 1562, and again in 1577. Corn, flour, brandy, olive-oil, raw silk, 

 &c. enter into the commerce of the town, which has mills for the 

 reeling and manufacture of silk. There is a secondary ecclesiastical 

 school in Bourg-St.-Ande'ol. Ckomtrac, about 2 miles S.E. from 

 I'rivii* in the valley of the Payre, a small feeder of the Rhone, on 

 which are several silk-reeling and silk-throwing establishments near 

 the town, has a population of 2505. The valley of the Payre is almost 

 altogether covered with mulberry plantations : the limestone hills 

 that screen it are covered some way up with vines, but they are for 

 the most part arid and bare rock. Entraiyues or Ani.raitjv.es, built on 

 a platform of gneiss between the Volane and one of its feeders, 11 

 miles W. from Privas, has paper-mills and a population of 1443. The 

 neighbourhood of this place once yawned with volcanoes : just opposite 

 the town on the left bank of the Volane is the cone and crater called 

 La Coupe d'Ai/ac, from which streamed the basaltic lava that lines the 

 banks of the Volane. In all this volcanic region the sweet chestnut 

 grows most luxuriously. Itochcmawre, a village of 1473 inhabitants, is 

 situated on the right bank of the Rhone, about 10 miles S. by E. from 

 Privas, on the flank of a limestone hill, from which three black basaltic 

 rooks spring up, the central one being 328 feet in perpendicular height 

 and crowned with the nuns of an ancient castle. Near this place is 

 an extinct volcano called Chenevari. About 2 miles below Rochemaurc 

 is another village, Le-Theil (population 2394), which communicates with 

 Montelimart on the right bank of the Rhflne by means of a suspension- 

 bridge. Val#, situated 3 miles N. from Aubenas, in a valley drained 

 by the Volane, which here falls in silvery cascades over ledges of black 

 basaltic rock, has cold ferruginous mineral springs, paper-factories, 

 magnanieres (establishments for rearing silkworms), and 2789 inhabi- 

 tants. The mineral waters, which are very advantageous in cases of 

 stomachic debility, gorged viscera, &c., attract from 1600 to 2000 

 persons annually to Vals. The valley of the Volane above Vain v, iiu 



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