﻿ILLIERS. 



ILLINOIS. 



2SS 



Cantache, 22 miles E. from Eennea, has a tribunal of first instance, 

 an ecclesiastical school, and 8555 inhabitants. The town is large, but 

 irregularly built ; and its feudal fortifications, consisting of a castle 

 and high ramparts, flanked with machicolated towers and surrounded 

 by a deep ditch, give it a gloomy appearance. The church of Notre- 

 Dame is the most remarkable structure in the town. Vito! has 

 manufactures of thread-stockings, serge, flannel, hats, casks, brandy, 

 leather, and sail-cloth, and trades in these articles, and in wine, linen, 

 honey, wax, hides, cattle, and cantharides flies, which are found in the 

 neighbourhood. The other towns are — Argentri, which is a few miles 

 8. of Vitr<S, and has 1978 inhabitants : La-Guerche, a town of 4412 

 inhabitants, which stands in a rich com and grazing country, 11 miles 

 S. from Vitr^ ; it gives name to a neighbouring forest, and has manu- 

 factures of fine linen, leather, and nut-oil, besides a good trade in 

 butter, corn, flax, hemp, chestnuts, cattle, sheep, Ac : and SJietiera, 

 which is a few miles W. of La-Guerche, and has 2960 inhabitants. 



6. Of the sixth arrondiasement the chief town, Sedan, stands at the 

 foot of a hill on the Vilaine, which here forms a good tide harbour, 

 with a rise of from 10 to 13 feet at high water. The town, which is 

 situated in the most southern angle of the department, at the junction 

 of the two branches of the canal from Nantes to Brest, and at the 

 southern extremity of the river and canal navigation that terminates 

 to northward in the harbour of St-Malo, enjoys great advantages for 

 trade, in addition to its connection with the Bay of Biscay by a navig- 

 able tide-river. It is in general well built ; the chief stnioturea are 

 the former abbey-buildings now used as a college, and the abbey- 

 church, the semicircular apse of which is considered a masterpiece of 

 its kind. Redon has a tribunal of first instance, a college, and 5216 

 inhabitants, who carry on a considerable trade in colonial produce, 

 wine, brandy, salt, butter, chestnuts, timber, hemp, oak-staves, planks, 

 masts, pitch and tar, slates quarried in the neighbourhood, sheet- and 

 bar-iron, lead, resin, hides, linen, flax, canvass, &c. Vessels of 50 to 

 400 tons are built A vote of 1,800,000 francs was taken in 1848 for 

 the improvement of the harbour of Redon, to which the French attach 

 great importance, as, in case of a war with England, their trading 

 vessels could enter here without exposing themselves in the channel 

 The other towns are — Bain, which stands on the great road from 

 Rennes to Nantes, and has a population of 3476 and some woollen 

 manufactures : Pougeray, 16 miles N.E. from Redon, which has 5254 

 inhabitants ; it had formerly a strong castle, of which only one high 

 massive tower remains, and from which the English were driven by 

 Du Quesclin in 1356 : Guichm, which is 25 miles N.N.E. from Redon, 

 and has cold mineral springs, and 3534 inhabitants : Maurt, 15 miles 

 N. from Redon, which has a population of 4000, and an ancient castle 

 taken by Henri IV. in 1597 : and Pipriac, 12 miles N. from Redon, 

 which has 3116 inhabitants. 



In Roman times the territory of this department was inhabited by 

 the Radones, a Celtic tribe, whose name is still preserved in that of 

 Redon. It was included in the district of Armorica. Onthedownfal 

 of the empire it became part of Bretagne. The department forms the 

 ■ee of the Bishop of Rennes, is included in the jurisdiction of the 

 Cour Imperiale and University Academy of Rennes, and belongs to 

 the 16th Military Division, of which Rennes is head-quarters. For 



Cpotoi of superior education there are besides the University of 

 nee an imperial college and diocesan seminary in the same town, 

 and colleges in Dol, FougJsres, St.-Servan, and Vitr^. There is a 

 school of painting, sculpture, and drawing, and a departmental 

 museum in Rennes. The department returns 4 representatives to 

 the Legislative Body of the French empire. 



{Diclionnaire rfe la Prance; Anmiaire pour tAn 1858; Official 

 Papers ; Guide Clatai'/ue du Voyagevir en Prance.) 

 ILLIERS. [Edbe-et-Loihe.] 



ILLINOIS, one of the United States of North America, is bounded 

 S.E. by the Ohio, which separates it from Kentucky for 1 30 miles ; 

 E. by the Wabash for 120 miles direct distance, and by a meridian 

 line to Lake Michigan for 162 miles, by which river and line it is 

 separated from Indiana; N.E. by Lake Michigan for 57 miles; N. by 

 the parallel of 42° 30' N. lat. to the Mississippi, 157 miles, by which 

 it is separated from Wisconsin ; W. by the Mississippi, whicli sepa- 

 rates it from Iowa for 200 miles, and from Missouri for 340 miles. It 

 lies between •12'' 30' and 37° N. lat., 87° 49' and 91° 28' W. long. 

 The extreme length is 378 miles, the extreme breadth 212 miles ; the 

 circuit of the state is 1160 miles, of which 850 miles is formed by 

 navigable rivers ; and its area is 55,409 square miles, or nearly 3000 

 square miles less than England and Wales. The following table shows 

 the population decennially since the first census of the state in 1810, 

 witn the proportion of free coloured persons and slaves. The total 

 population in 



1810 was 12,282, Including 613 free colonred persona, and IGS tlavcs. 

 1810 „ SS,2I1, „ 457 „ 017 „ 



18S0 „ lS7,44i, „ ICSr „ 747 „ 



1840 „ 476,183, „ 3598 „ 331 „ 



1830 „ 851,470, „ 3436 „ None. 



The federal representative population in 1850 being 851,470 entitles 

 the state to send nine representatives to Congress. To the Senate, like 

 each of the other United States, Illinois sends two members. 



Surface, lliidroyraphij, C'ommunicaliom. — Illinois is one of the most 



CEOO. I>IV. VOL. lU. 



level states in the Union. In the southern part of the state, by the 

 Ohio, there is a range of low hills ; the northern part is also somewhat 

 broken, and there are some elevations by the Illinois, and lofty blufi's 

 along the Mississippi ; but with these exceptions Illinois is one great 

 plain, having a general gentle slope to the south-west. The loftiest 

 height is said to be under 1000 feet above the level of the sea, the 

 lowest portion of the plain at the mouth of the Ohio River, is 340 

 feet above the sea. A large portion of the surface consists of prairie, 

 much of it in its native state, but a great deal is reclaimed, and 

 cultivation is rapidly encroaching on the remainder. The surface of 

 the largest of the prairies, known as the Gi'and Prairie, and occupying 

 the country between the Mississippi and the Wabash rivers is for the 

 most part gently undulating and very fertile, with a good deal of timber 

 about it ; though considerable tracts of the southern part are flat and 

 have an inferior soil The character of the prairie is said to affard 

 no insurmountable obstacle to its reclamation and settlement ; no 

 portion of it is more than eight miles from timber, and coal is found ia 

 abundance in most parts. "The prairies are commonly known as the 

 dry and the wet. The dry prairies ai'e those which lie above the 

 alluvial tracts, and, though less fertile, are preferred to them on 

 account of their not being subject to inundations. The wet prairies 

 are usually covered with coar.se grass. The broad alluvial tracts 

 bordering the several rivers, locally known as bottoms, are extremely 

 rich and fertile, but owing to their moist state and liability to bo 

 flooded, are to a great extent uncultivated, though producing fine trees. 



Illinois is well provided with rivers. Nearly three-fourths of its 

 boundary is formed by navigable rivers, while its north-eastern angle 

 is washed for 57 miles by Lake Michigan, thereby aflbi-diug the state 

 direct water communication with the whole lake country of the 

 north. The rivers which belong to it in common with other states 

 are the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash, which are described under 

 Mississippi, Kentucky, and Indiana. Of the rivers which beloug 

 wholly to the state the chief is the Illinois, which rises near Lake 

 Michigan, and flows first west, and then south-south-west, into the 

 Mississippi, which it joins 20 miles above the Missouri. About 200 

 miles above its mouth it expands into a fine lake called Peoria, 20 miles 

 long and 2 miles wide. A morass at its source in wet seasons dis- 

 charges a part of its waters into the river, and a part into the Chicazo, 

 a small stream which flows into Lake Michigan. This large river 

 takes the name of Illinois only from the confluence of the Plane, 

 Des Plaines, or Aux Plaines River, from the north-enst and the 

 Kankakee from the east, both considerable streams, and navig.abl9 

 for boats. Thirty miles below their confluence Fox River, some- 

 times, but erroneously, considered the main branch of the Illinois, 

 falls into the Illinois from the north ; it rises in the Huron territory, 

 and has a course of 200 miles south-south-west, more than half of whictx 

 is in this state. The course of the Illinois is about 500 miles. It 

 is navigable by large steamboats at certain seasons up to Ottawa, 

 just below the Great Rapids, near the junction of the Fox River ; 

 at other times steamboat navigation ia Btop|)ed by the Little Rapids 

 at La Salle, where a canal commences which connects the Illinois 

 with Lake Michigan. The Illinois flows with a gentle curreut, 

 generally in a wide deep bed. The other principal tributaries of 

 the Illinois are the Vermilion River from the south-east, the 

 Mackinaw from the north-east. Spoon River from the north-west, 

 the Sangainon, or Sanganio, from the east, and the Big and Little 

 Blue rivers from the west ; besides numerous lesser streams. San- 

 gamon, by much the largest of these tributaries, has a very wind- 

 ing course to the west of more than 250 miles, of which 140 miles 

 are navigable, and it falls into the IllinoLs about 130 miles above 

 its mouth. Rock River rises in Wisconsin, and entering the state of 

 Illinois on its north boundary, crosses it in a south-west course of 

 about 300 miles to the Mississippi : it is navigable iu its lower course; 

 its upper course is impeded by rapids. The Kashmia rises on the 

 eastern side of the state, and, like the Illinois and Rock rivers, has a 

 generally south-western course to its junction with the Mississippi, 

 about 80 miles above the junction of the Ohio. The river has been 

 rendered much more serviceable for purposes of navigation by the 

 removal of various obstructions under the direction of the Board of 

 Public Works; it is now navigable in high-water to yandali.% 150 

 miles from its mouth, and in some seasons to Shelbyvilla, 30 miles 

 higher : its entire course is about 300 miles. It has numerous small 

 tributaries. The Big Muddy, farther south, is also a considerable 

 stream. The aflluenta of the Ohio and the Wabash are generally much 

 smaller streams than those which fall into the Mississippi, but some 

 of them are navigable, and all are important as furnishing water- 

 power for mechanical purposes. 



The state possesses one very important canal, the Illinois and 

 Michigan Canal, 110 miles long, constructed by the state at a coat of 

 upwards of 8,000,000 dollars. It commences at Chicago on Lake 

 Michigan, and is carried in a south-western direction near the right 

 bank of the Illinois to La Salle, where the Illinois becomes navigable, 

 thus opening to the lake ports and navigation the wide river country 

 of the south and west. 



IlUnois appears likely to be eventually amply supplied with rail- 

 ways. In all, the liues completed or in progress amount to 2100 

 miles. Already some 600 or 700 miles are in operation, and above 



