1061 



FRANCE. 



FRANCE. 



1062 



and a number of others of less importance. The basin of the Adour 

 is bounded by the Pyrenees and the range which extends from these 

 to the mouth of the Garonne : the length of this river is about 200 

 miles. The basin of the Garonne is bounded by the heights last 

 mentioned, by the Pyrenees, the Cdvennes, the mountain group of 

 Auvergne, the heights of Gatine, and a small branch from these which 

 divides the basins of the Garonnne and Charente. The general 

 course of the Garonne is to the north-west ; that of its principal 

 tributaries which flow from the Cdvennes and the Auvergnat group 

 (as the Dordogne, the Lot, and the Tarn) is to the west-by-south ; 

 that of the Pyrenean tributaries, which are smaller, to the north-by- 

 west; the Dordogne is the last tributary of importance which it 

 receives in its course to the ocean ; and their joint sestuary is called 

 the Gironde, a name which like that of our own Humber applies to 

 the sestuary alone. The length of the Garonne is about 360 miles ; 

 its basin is inferior in extent to that of the Loire, but exceeds that of 

 the Seine. [GAROXNE.] The basin of the Charente is bounded by 

 the heights of Gatine or their branch? s, and the length of the river is 

 200 miles. [CHARESTE ; CHARENTE-IXFERIEURE.] 



The basin of the Loire, the largest river that wholly belongs to 

 France, is bounded by the heights of Gatine, the Auvergne Mountains, 

 the Cdvennes in which it rises, the Charollais heights, the hills 

 which connect these with the plateaux of Orldaus and 1'eauce, and 

 the offsets of the Menez Mountains. The direction of a line drawn 

 from the source of the Loire to its mouth would be north-west, and 

 it would lie nearly along the ridge of the heights of Gatine, but from 

 the great bend which the river makes, its course is first north and then 

 west ; iU principal tributary, the Allier, has a northward course 

 nearly parallel to and not far distant from the upper part of the 

 Loire : the Cher, the Indre, and the Vienne, have a north-west course. 

 These all join the Loire on the left bank ; the most important tribu- 

 tary which it receives on the right bank is the Mayenne. The length 

 of the Loire is above 600 miles ; that of the Allier is about 250 

 miles; that of the Cher, 215 miles; that of the Vieune, 207 miles; 

 and that of the Grouse, an affluent of the Vienne, 166 miles. 



The basin of the Vilaine is bounded on the north by the Menez 

 Mountains, and on the east by a branch of the same mountains which 

 separates it from the basin of the Loire ; the length of the Viluine 

 is about 124 miles. The basin of the Orue is bounded by the Menez 

 Mountains, or their branches; the length of this river is above 

 82 miles. 



The basin of the Seine is bounded by the heights of Beauce and 

 those of Langres, with their connecting range ; and by the hills which 

 branch off from the heights of Langres toward the Channel. The 

 length of the Seine is 480 miles ; that of its principal tributary, the 

 Marne, is 268 miles. The basin of the Somme is bounded by the 

 heights that run from those of Langres to the coast of the Channel ; 

 the length of the river is about 110 miles. 



The north-eastern or Rhenish slope comprehends parts of the 

 basins of the Escaut or Schelde, the Meuse, the Moselle, and the 

 Rhine. Only a comparatively small part of the course of each of 

 these rivers belongs to France ; no part of the course of the Rhine 

 is entirely included in that country, of which it only forms the 

 boundary. 



The Mediterranean elope comprehends the basins of the Aude and 

 the Rhone, and of one or two other streams, which are too small to 

 require notice. The basin of the Aude comprises part of the slopes 

 of the eastern Pyrenees, the southern slopes of the Montagues XAes, 

 the most southern part of the Cdvennes, and the great depression 

 between these two mountain systems. The Aude is about 100 miles 

 in length ; its course is at first northward as far as Carcassone, and 

 then eastward to the Gulf of Lyon, which it enters below Narbonne. 

 The basin of the Rhone is bounded by the Cdvennes, the heights of 

 Charollais, the Cote-d'Or, the heights of Langres, the Vosges, the 

 Jura, and the Alps : its greatest extension is from north to south, and 

 it is comprehended partly in Switzerland and the Sardinian state?, 

 but chiefly in France. The course of the Rhone in Savoy, Switzer- 

 land, and part of France is nearly west ; at the great city of Lyon it 

 bends to the southward : its whole course is about 525 miles ; that 

 of the Saone, its principal affluent, is 304 miles ; that of the Isere and 

 the Durance, two other affluents, about 190 and 220 miles respectively ; 

 and that of the Doubs, a feeder of the Saone, about 210 miles. 



Geoloyical Character. The sands, clays, limestones of later forma- 

 tion, marls, and sandstones, which constitute the strata above the 

 chalk (including the alluvial and diluvial beds), occupy several exten- 

 sive districts. 1. The largest of these districts is in the south-west of 

 France; it comprises the countries that lie between the foot of the 

 Pyrenees from the ocean to the Mediterranean, and a line drawn from 

 the mouth of the Gironde below Blaye to the shore-lake of Sigdan, 

 near Narbonne. It comprehends nearly the whole of the valleys of 

 the Adour and the Garonne, with the intervening ' landes,' or heaths; 

 the lower part of the valleys of the Dordogue, the Lot, the Tarn, the 

 Ariege, and the other streams which join the Garonne on the right 

 bank ; the whole of the valleys of those streams which join it on the 

 loft bank, except such as have their sources in the higher part of the 

 Pyrenees ; and a narrow belt from the valley of the Garonne to the 

 Mediterranean, along the coast of which beds of this formation, pro- 

 bably alluvial, extend to the border of Spain. 2. The next district in 



extent is what is designated ' the Paris basin,' extending for several 

 miles iu every direction round that city, bounded by an irregular line 

 drawn from the neighbourhood of Gisors, on the north-west of Paris, 

 to La Fere on the Oise ; thence to the neighbourhood of Epernay 

 on the Marne ; -from Epernay to the Seine, at the junction of the 

 Loing, and along the valley through which the canals of the Loing 

 and of Briare have been cut, to the valley of the Loire, along which 

 valley these formations extend upwards to Cosne, and downwards 

 below Blois : from this last point they are bounded by a line drawn 

 northward to the neighbourhood of Gisors. 3. The third district 

 extends along the valley of the Saone on the east side of that river 

 from the junction of the Doubs to Lyon, and then along the east side 

 of the valley of the Rhone to below the junction of the Drome : this 

 long strip has a breadth of several miles on the east side of the Saone 

 and Rhone, but does not extend to the west of these rivers, except 

 between the junction of the Doubs and the Canal du Centre with the 

 Saone. 4. The next district comprehends the alluvial formation of 

 the delta of the Rhone, and the lower part of the valley of that river, 

 and of its tributaries the Aigues, Ouveze, and Durance. 5, 6, 7. There 

 are three other narrow portions occupied by these later formations, 

 extending along that part of the valley of the Rhine which belongs to 

 France ; along the valley of the Allier, from near Brioude to below 

 Moulins ; and along the valley of the Loire from near Feurs to the 

 junction of the Avron. 8. That small part of France which lies to 

 the north of a line drawn from Calais by St.-0mer to the Belgian 

 frontier, is occupied by those formations which extend into Belgium, 

 and occupy a large part of that country. 



The chalk-formation skirts the district occupied by the super-creta- 

 ceous deposits on the north-east side alone, extending from the coa.it 

 between the Gironde and the Charente to the river Lot, southward of 

 which it is not found : the breadth of this belt of chalk is tolerably 

 uniform about 25 or 30 miles. The Paris basin is surrounded on 

 almost every side by the chalk, which forms a circular belt of very 

 variable breadth, from 24 or 25 miles (between Reims and Rethel), to 

 more than 100 miles (between Clermont-sur-Oise and the coast near 

 Calais) : the continuity of this belt is only interrupted by the exten- 

 sion of the super-cretaceous strata up the valley of the Loire toward 

 Cosne. The chalk formation occupies the coast of the channel from 

 Cape Grinez to the west of the mouth of the Seine, except near Bou- 

 logne, where it is interrupted for a short interval by the strata of the 

 formations below it, which here rise to the surface. 



The group, which comprehends the oolitic and other formations 

 from the chalk-marl (which underlies the chalk) to the lias, surrounds 

 the chalk belt of the Paris basin on the west, south, and east sides. 

 On the west side the district occupied by these formations is narrow, 

 except just on the coast of the Channel, along which it extends from 

 near the mouth of the Seine to the peninsula of Cotentin. On the 

 south-west it becomes wider, and extends to the chalk belt which 

 bounds on the north-east the first super-cretaceous district above 

 defined : along this belt it extends, forming an outer belt from the 

 ocean, to the river Lot; and from the Lot it extends towards the 

 south-east, skirting the super-cretaceous district. Along the south 

 side of the chalk of the Paris basin, these underlying strata have a 

 variable breadth : on the south - east and east they extend, inter- 

 rupted only by the more ancient strata of the Vosges, to the valley of 

 the Rhine and the upper waters of the Saoue, and across that river to 

 the Jura, the heights of which consist of these formations. From the 

 Saone and the Jura these formations extend southward to the Medi- 

 terranean, bounding the third super-cretaceous district on the eas*, 

 and then, extending westward across the Rhone, inclose the fourth 

 super-cretaceous district between their branches. A belt of these 

 strata extends, with one or two interruptions, along the foot of the 

 Pyrenees, on the south of the super-cretaceous district, from the 

 ocean nearly to the Mediterranean. 



The new red-sandstone or red marl, and the maguesian limestone 

 which underlies it, formations which in England spread over a great 

 extent 01 country, occupy only a small part of France : they are found 

 in the Vosges, the Cdvennes, and one or two other places. 



The coal-measures, the slates, and the granites and oth^r primitive 

 rocks occupy several extensive districts. 1. The whole, of Bretagns 

 and the adjacent part of Normandie, and the other conterminous 

 provinces in the west. 2. The mountain district of Auvergne, part of 

 the Cdvennes, the hills of Vivarais, Forez, and the Charollais, and a 

 large extent of country west of Auvergue, as far as the banks of the 

 Vienne and the sources of the Chareute : this region is intersected 

 by the sixth and seventh super-cretaceous districts ; and here the oldest 

 and the latest formations may ba found iu juxtaposition, without the 

 intervention of any of the intermediate strata. 3. The Alps. 4. Tha 

 Pyrenees, in which calcareous formations abound, and organic remains 

 are found at a vast height. 5. The Vosges, where they are not occu- 

 pied by the new red-sandstone or magnesian limestone, by whii'li 

 formations the primitive district is nearly surrounded. 6. A consider- 

 able insulated district in the southern part of the Cdvennes, between 

 districts 2 and 4. 7. A small tract in the northern part of Frarrce, 

 between the Sambre and the Meuse. 



The great primitive district of central France (the second in our 

 enumeration) abounds in extinct volcanoes, and in the rocks, such as 

 trachytes, basalt, lava, &c., which have arisen from them. Several of 



