773 



DOKDOGNE. 



DORDOGNE. 



774 



districts. The deficiency of corn is supplied by the immense produc> 

 of chestnuts, which are used as human food, and also for fattening 

 hogs, a source of great profit to the farmer. The highest land in the 

 department is in the arrondissement of Sarlat, the hills rising to the 

 height of 700 to 800 feet, with sides in some places perpendicular 

 About Bergerac the hills having subsided, the valley of the Dordogne 

 opens out into an extensive plain, and here maize, wheat, peas, beans, 

 and other farm produce are abundantly raised. Of the arrondisse- 

 ment of Ribe'rac, which is watered by the Dronne, about one-third 

 consists of rich heavy wheat land, and the remainder of arid gravelly 

 soil, or hungry barren sand. The vines in this district are trained to 

 creep along the branches of elms and walnut-trees, which present a 

 beautiful appearance in the autumn, bending with the weight of the 

 ripe grape-clusters; but by this method, though more grapes are 

 produced, the wine is said not to be so good. 



Besides the products already named, truffles (the famous Trufles de 

 Pengord), the best in France, medicinal and aromatic plants are 

 abundant ; fruit-trees are cultivated to a great extent, especially the 

 walnut for making oil In the forests oak and chestnut are the 

 prevailing trees. The annual produce of wine is 16,940,000 gallons, 

 one-half of which is used for home consumption, and the rest exported 

 tilled into brandy and liqueurs ; the best kinds are the white 

 wines of the arrondissement of Bergerac. On account of the 

 deficiency of grass-land, horses, cattle, and sheep are not numerous; 

 pigs and goats are; poultry and game are abundant and excellent. 

 Mule* and asses are the common beasts of burden. The climate is 

 generally mild, but the cold on the hills is sometimes very great in 

 winter. Snow sometimes falls, but seldom lies more than a day or 

 two ; winter and spring are rainy ; summer is excessively hot in the 

 valleys; the autumn is very delightful. Violent winds from the 

 north and west are not unusual, and hailstorms often do great harm 

 to the crops in summer. The department is traversed by 5 state, 

 20 departmental, and 55 communal roads. The Paris-Bordeaux 

 railroad runs for a few miles along the left bank of the Dronne, in 

 the extreme west of the department. 



Mines of iron, coal, and manganese are worked ; marble, alabaster, 

 millstones, building and lithographic stones are quarried; lead, 

 antimony, magnesia, slate, fullers' earth, chalk, gypsum, &c. are found. 

 There are 59 smelting furnaces and forges for the manufacture of 

 hammered iron and steel; 1413 wind- and water-mills; and 450 

 establishments of different kinds for the production of coarse woollens, 

 serge, hosiery, brandy, oil, paper, leather, cutlery, &c. The commerce 

 of the department consists of its iron, wine, hams, truffled turkeys, 

 and leather. 



The department contains 2,263,582 acres, about one-half of which 

 Is capable of cultivation ; 222,138 acres are under vine-culture. It is 

 divided into five arrondissements, which, with their subdivisions and 

 population, are aa follows : 



1. In the first arrondiasement the chief town, Ptrigueuoc, which is 

 also the capital of the department, stands on the right bank of the 

 Isle, at a distance of 296 miles from Paris, in 45 11' 4" N. lat., 

 43' 29" E. long., and has 12, 488 inhabitants, including the commune. 

 The interior of the town is gloomy ; the houses are high, large, and 

 well-built of freestone, but the streets are ao narrow and tortuous, 

 that the height of the houses serves to make them cheerless. The 

 site of the old ramparts is now occupied by two handsome boulevards. 

 The streets of the town present some curiously ornamented houses 

 of the 16th century. The principal buildings are the cathedral of 

 St-Front, the former church of the Jesuits, the town-house, the court- 

 house, and the bridge over the Isle. P^rigueux is the seat of a bishop, 

 has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a college, a public 

 library of 16,000 volumes, an hospital, barracks, a theatre, a museum 

 of antiquities, and also a garden of antiquities, in which the various 

 fragments of Roman sculpture and architecture found in the neigh- 

 bourhood are arranged in order. It ia supplied with water by public 

 fountains, which are fed by an aqueduct lately completed. There are 

 several pretty promenades ornamented with statues. The industrial 

 products of the town are paper, woollen-cloths, cutlery, hosiery, 

 brandy, leather, nails, and the celebrated Pate's de Pe>igueux, a 

 confection made of partridges and truffles, which is largely exported ; 

 the town also trades in flour, salt, iron, wood, pork, groceries, poultry, 

 and cattle. The market for pigs held here ia the largest in France. 

 P<!rigueux occupies the site of ancient Veiunna, the capital of the 

 Petrocorii, whose name it subsequently bore. Its importance in 

 ancient times ia evidenced by its site at the junction of five Roman 

 roads, and by the remains of a vast amphitheatre, aqueducts, baths, 

 and several temples; but the most remarkable Roman building 

 remaining is the circular tower called La Tour de Yesune, which ia 



still 67 feet high, 200 feet round, and has walls 6 feet thick ; it has 

 neither doors nor windows, and the purpose of its erection is 

 unknown. 



Among the other towns we give the following: the population 

 throughout is that of the commune St.-Astier, which was formerly 

 defended by a strong castle, still partly remaining, stands on the Isle, 



11 miles W. from PeYigueux, and has 2600 inhabitants. Srantdme, 

 on an island in the Droune, was formerly famous for its Benedictine 

 abbey. The abbey church, which dates from the llth century, is a 

 very interesting structure. A crypt hollowed out of the rock to the 

 north of the abbey contains some colossal bas-reliefs. The other 

 remarkable structures are the abbey buildings, which are of vast 

 extent, and the parish church, which dates from the 15th century, 

 and contains fine specimens of wood carving. The town was formerly 

 fortified, and was the scene of many a foray between the French, 

 Normans, and English : population, 2800. Pierre de Bourdeilles, 

 commonly called BranWme, was abbot of the abbey of Brantome, 

 and wrote his historical memoirs in it. Excideuil, the birthplace of 

 Marshal Bugeaud, on the Loue, a feeder of the Isle; ffautefort, 

 25 miles E. from PeVigueux, on a hill, the crest of which is surmounted 

 by a fine old castle ; Savignac-les-Eglises, on the Isle ; St.-Jean-de- Vergt, 



12 miles S. from Pe>igueux; and T/ienon, 17 miles E.S.E. from it, 

 are small places which give names to cantons. 



2. In the second arrondissement, the chief town Bergerac, is situ- 

 ated in a fertile plain on the right bank of the Dordogne, 26 miles 

 8.8.W. from Pe'rigueux, and has 9971 inhabitants, including the 

 commune. It is an ill-built place ; the streets are narrow winding 

 lanes ; some good houses are seen in the market square, and near the 

 bridge across the Dordogne. This bridge (which has five arches), the 

 theatre, and the public library, are the most remarkable objects in 

 the town, which has also tribunals of first instance and of commerce, 

 a college, and an ecclesiastical school. In the neighbourhood there 

 are several iron-foundries and smelting furnaces. The English took 

 Bergerac in A.D. 1345, and fortified it; they were driven out of it by 

 Louis d'Anjou, but made themselves masters of it a second time, and 

 were not finally dispossessed of it till 1450. It suffered greatly in 

 the religious wars of France, during which it was a stronghold of 

 the Calvinists. The citadel and fortifications were demolished by 

 Louis XIII. in 1621. Beaumont, on the crest of a hill above the 

 Couze, a feeder of the Dordogne, originated in a church erected here 

 in 1272. The present town which is of square form, surrouuded by 

 turreted walls with a central square, in which the four principal 

 streets meet at right angles, was built by the English when they were 

 masters of Guienne : population, 1835. Eymtt, on the left bank of 

 the Dropt; Lalinde, 12 miles E. from Bergerao on the Dordogne; 

 Monpazier, a well-built place on the Dropt ; and St.-A Ivairc, 20 

 miles E. from Bergerac, arc small places with a little over 1000 

 inhabitants each. 



3. In the third arrondissement, the chief town, Nontron, an ill-built 

 place, prettily situated on the slopes of two hills on the right bank 

 of the Bandiat, has a tribunal of first instance, an hospital, and 3704 

 inhabitants, who manufacture cutlery and leather, and are employed 

 in the iron and manganese mines and iron-works of the neighbour- 

 hood. The town existed in the 8th century ; it was plundered several 

 times by the Northmen. The English took it in 1420. The 

 Huguenots under Coligni sacked Nontron in 1570, and slew a great 

 number of the inhabitants, who resisted to the last extremity. 

 Jumillac-le-Grand, 20 miles E. from Nontron, on the left banh of 

 the Isle, has several iron-foundries and smelting-furnaces, a fine old 

 castle, from which the English were chased by Duguescliu in 1379, 

 and 3194 inhabitants. Thiviers, an ill-built town, 15 miles S.E. from 

 Nontron, stands on a steep hill, has tan-yards, paper-mills, potteries, 

 ;ile-works, and iron-foundries ; it trades in corn, wine, hides, cheese, 

 truffles, &c., and has a population of 2400. The other cantons are 

 name'l from mere villages. 



4. In the fourth arrondissement, the chief town, EiMrac, stands in 

 a fertile district, on the Dronne, 23 miles W. from Pdrigueux ; it is 



rregularly built, and has 2942 inhabitants, who trade in corn, linen, 

 jigs, and leather. The old castle of the dukes of Turenne is the 

 >nly interesting structure in the place. A tribunal of first instance 

 s held here. Neuvic, on the left bank of the Isle, has 2254 inhabit- 

 ants. St.-Aulaye, on the Dronne; Monpont, on the left bank of the 

 !sle, near which there is a large Roman camp ; Muesidan, at the 

 unction of the Crempre with the Isle ; and Bowdeillea, on a high 

 rock overhanging the left bank of the Dronne, are the most important 

 >f the other towns, each having under 2000 inhabitants. 



5. In the fifth arrondissement the chief town is Sarlat, which stands 

 !2 miles S.E. from Pe'rigueux, in a hollow closed in by steep arid 

 lills, and watered by the river Sarlat, a small feeder of the Dordogne. 

 Phe streets are narrow and crooked, the houses old and ill-built, the 

 ite gloomy and unhealthy. The town has tribunals of first instance 



and of commerce, a college, an ecclesiastical school, and 5800 inhabit- 

 ants, including the commune. Tho college, the hospital, and the 

 iarish church are the best of the public buildings. A good deal of 

 iaper and walnut-oil are made here. Sarlat was formerly a strong 

 tila.ce and sustained several sieges, one of which, though directed by 

 Turenue, was unsuccessful. It is still surrounded by old walls. The 

 Bishopric of Sarlat, which was created by Pope John XXII., waa 



