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department of Ainie, whenin it beeooiM nwigtble at Cbaunsjr ; 

 ooDtinaiDg in the tame direetion aoroM the depMiment of Oise, in 

 which it pauen Koyoo, Compiigne, aud Creil, it eutors Seiue-et-OUe, 

 and throws itself into the Seiue at Condans-Sniiiti-Honorine, a few 

 miles below Poutoiae. It* whole ooone is 137 miles in length, 75 

 of which are navigable. The eaaala that miite the baains of the 

 Somme and the Eacaut with the baain of the 3ein^ enter the Uise. 

 The principal feeders of the Oise from the left bank are— the Ton, the 

 Sarre, the Lotto, the Aisne [Aisxk], the Autonne, and the Nouotte ; 

 from the right bank— the Xoirieu, the BrSohe, and the Thdrain. 



Tb* loil of the plains is in general good, consisting of a strong 

 calcataous dny, mixed in aoma jHaces with flints and gravel. There 

 11 also a good deal of light sandy soil and some arid sandy fiaU, which 

 <re either tobtlly barnn, or covered with stunted underwood ; the 

 hUls, on which we soil is thin and light, ai-e in many parts overgrown 

 with forest tieea. Thera are extensive marshes and alluvial deposits 

 in tha valleys of the Oise and the Thdrain. The formation of the 

 department ia calcareous. 



The climate is healthy, but rather damp, the winters being commouly 

 long and rainy ; snow sometimes lie^ for a month in the north of the 

 denrtmeot. 



The staple agricultural products are wheat, oats, and beetroot; 

 mixed gram, rye, barley, pulse, potatoes, and some buckwheat are 

 •lao grown. The system of cultivation cousists of a plain fiiUow, or 

 green crop, followed fint by wheat nud then by oats. The produce 

 of wheat averages about 20 bushels, oats 40 buuhoU an acre. A 

 surplus over the home consumption is exported. Other objects of 

 culture are hemp, flax, chicory, onions, artichokes, turnips, carrots, 

 and a vast quantity of other pot-herbs for the supply of Paria. liape, 

 poppy, and other oleaginous plants are grown. The viue U cultivated 

 in several districts of the south and east ; but the wiue of tlie <lepart- 

 mcnt is bad, and the breadth of land under vines is diuiiQiibing 

 yearly. Cider and eating apples, and prodigious quantities of block 

 and red cherries are grown. Apple-trees are planted in rows along 

 all the highways, aud in the fields they are often grown in quiucunxes. 

 Cider is the common beverage of the country people. 



Saddle and draught horses are reared, being a cross between the 

 nattre breed and English blood-horses or the Arab horse. Cattle 

 are oomparatively few in number ; sheep are the principal stock. 

 Indeed owing to the scarcity of water the country in ill adapted for 

 cattle ; the wells are in many instances 200 feet deep. A great number 

 of calves however and eome fat cattle are supplied to the Paria 

 markets ; in the hilly country west of the valley of the ThrSi-ain, cattle- 

 fseding is the common occupation of the people, aud a good deal of 

 dieese and butter is made. The common breed of sheep is not good ; 

 but in some districts a cross with Spanish merinos has produced an 

 improved stock, with a good carcass and a heavy fine fleece. They 

 are always folded by night, and fed by day under the guardianship of 

 shepherds and dogs ; in winter they are housed, and fed on lucerne 

 and sainfoin hay. Poultry is very abundant The black eagle, a 

 rare bird, inhabits the forests of Compiigne. Forms vary in size from 

 600 to 700 acres, except in the neighbourhood of towns, where sub- 

 division of the land ia carried to great extremes. The farm buildings 

 are large, commodiously built of stone, and roofed with tiles or slates. 

 At harvest time Belgian reapers assist in cutting the wheat, which is 

 stadced on the land, and thrashed by a machine worked by horses. 

 Tba farmem are generally wealthy, and many of them farm their own 

 lands. 



The manufactures of the department nre various; the principal of 

 tliam are blooddotb, tapestry, carpets, blankets, aud other woollen 

 texture* for which Beauvaia has been long famous. Linen, printed 

 cottons, duck, lace, small wares, mirrors, Rpectaclo glasses, toy?, fancy 

 oaUoet work and turnery, porcelain, pottery, beot-root cugar (for the 

 mannfactoro of which there nre several f.ictories in tlie (Ie[iai'tmcnt), 

 paper, beer, roiMM, tiles, bricks, leather, &c., are nmon); the uthcr 

 industrial products. The various agricultural and industrial products 

 of the department find ready outlets by the Oise, the Ourcq, and the 

 canals oonneeted with thera. About 200 fairs are held in the year. 



Building-stone, millatonegrit, paving-granite, chalk, marl, potter's 

 and poroMain earths, and fossil marble are found. 



The department is crossed by 13 state, 28 departmental, and 

 n parish roads ; and by the Paria-Amiens railroad, which travertes 

 U from aottth to north, tending off a branch to the north-oast fivm 

 Cnil op the valley of tbe Oise through Compi6gne to St Quontin. 



Tba department is divided into 4 arrondisaements, which with their 

 aubdi visions and popuUtion are as follows :— 





Ckatou. 



OnuamMs. 



Population ial SSI. 



1. Bsaavais . 



1. CIsraMBt . . . 



S. Oonpliffos 



«. IcaUs . . 



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1. Of the first arrondisument aud of the whole department the 

 •pital is BlAVvau. OrandriUitrt, 17 miles N. by W. from Beauvais, 



at the intersection of the great roads to Rouen, Calais, Amisns, and 

 Paris, though a small place of only 2000 inhabitants, haa important 

 manufactures of woollen cloth, serge, hosiery, soap, oil, &a ; and a 

 considerable trade in corn, brandy, cider, oharooal, horses, and cattle. 

 Mti-u, 15 miles S. from Beauvals, ia the centre of a large manufaotur* 

 of fancy goods, suoh as fans, billiard-balls, pearl-buttons, dominoes, 

 button-moulds, chessmen, fancy woric-boxes, dice, metal-clasps, toya, 

 &c. ; it has 2237 inhabitants in the commune. 



2. The second arrondiasement is named fioni its chief town Cl<r- 

 motU, or Clermont-Oue, which ia prettily situatod on the summit and 

 slopes of a hill 16 miles E. by S. from Beauvais, 61 miles by railway 

 from Paris, and has a papulation of 3271 in the commune. The site of 

 the old fortifications is now covered with modern buildings and alleys 

 of trees ; of its defences there remains only the ancient castle of the 

 Prince of Cond<!, which stands on the top of the hill and cunimanda a 

 magnificent view over one of the richest parts of ricordie. This casUo 

 has been since 1826 a central prison for female convicts. The town has 

 a college, a tribunal of first instance, linen and cottou manufactures, 

 saltpetre-works, breweries, tan-yards, bleach-works, besides a con- 

 siderable trade in com, fruit, and cattle. Jireletul,l6 miles by railway 

 N. from Clermont, is an ill-built town, with 2399 inhabitants, who 

 manufacture soldiers' shoes, shawls, serge, woollen-stockings, paper, 

 leather, aud pottery. The vast buildings of the abbey of Sainte-Moiie, 

 rebuilt in 1028 ond still entire, form the only remarkable object in the 

 town. A piece of ground, about half a mile south-east from Breteuil, 

 on which the remains of ancient walls, besides Celtic and llomau 

 coins, have been found, is said to l>e the site of the SrcUtupaiUium of 

 Julius CaJior (' Bell. GalL" ii. 13). Crevecaur, a few miles W. from 

 Breteuil, is a small manufacturing town, with a papulation of 2394. 

 Mouy, prettily situated between two hills in a valley watered by tlio 

 Thorain, is a bustling little town with 2700 inhabitants, who manu- 

 facture woollen-cloth for soldiers' uniforms, serge, merinos, woollen- 

 yarn, &c. 



3. The third arrondiasement takes its name from its chief town 

 CoMi'ifeaNE. Noyon, said to be the ancient Noviadunam, and under 

 the Boman empire Noviomagm, is a well-built town situated on the 

 slope of a hill surrounded by gardens, and on the Vorse, a feeder 

 of the Oise, 12 miles by railway N.E. from Compi^ne, and has 

 5950 inhabitants. The town, which is entered by four principal gates, 

 has a fine cathedral church, built by Pepin-le-Bref, and a la^ town- 

 hall, which dates from 1'199. It has some trade in com, linen, canvass, 

 aud leather. Noyon is the birth-place of Calvin, and a station on the 

 St-Quentiu railway. 



4. In the fourth arrondiasement the chief town Senlit is situated on 

 the slope of a hill, 29 miles S.E. from Beauvais, and has a tribunal 

 of first instance and 5320 inhabitants. The town, which stands near 

 the junction of the Nonette and the Annette, two small streams that 

 form a feeder of the Oise, consists of nu aucieut part or city and three 

 suburbs. The city occupies the site, and contains some remaina, of a 

 Roman town, also a castle built iu the time of St-Louis, and a hand- 

 some cathedral church. The houses of the town are well built, but 

 the streets are mostly narrow and crooked. There are cotton spinning 

 factories, tan-yards, printing offices, linen-bleaching-works, and chicory- 

 mills in the town. Creil, 6 miles N.W, from Seulis, at the jtmction of tho 

 railroads from St-Queutiu and Amiens to Paris, stimds on the left 

 bank of the Oise, and has about 2000 inhabitants, many of whom are 

 engaged at the extensive potteries and porcelain-works near the town. 

 About S miles S. from Creil, and about a mile E. of the Paris-Amiens 

 railroad is ChantiUy, a pretty little town with 2446 iubabitimts, situated 

 on the Nonette, near an extensive forest, to which it gives name. 

 ChantiUy is one of tho principal centres of the lace uianufacturo in 

 France ; both the common flaxen lace, and that mu<]o of silk, and 

 called ' blonde,' are extensively manufactured. The royal park, palaces, 

 and waterworks of ChantiUy, wire formerly famous all over Europe. 

 During the first revolution tlie palace built by tho groat Cundu 

 was sold and demolished, its contents having been first removed to 

 Paris. After the Restoration the ruins were concealed from view 

 by plantations, the smaller palace repaired, and great improvements 

 made ; so that the palace, with the magoificont gardens, grounds, and 

 sheets of water that surround it, still constitute a doin.'un worthy of 

 the admiration of foreigners. Tho hospital of ChantiUy, founded by 

 the princes of Cond^, is a beautiful moss of building, and one of tho 

 best-regulated establishments of the kind in France. CHpy, or Crenpy- 

 tn-Valoii, 14 miles N.E. from Senlis, formerly the capital of Valoia 

 and a royal residence, is remarkable only for the ruins of its former 

 structures and fortifications. It has 2873 iiibabitantK, who trade iu 

 com, household linen, and thread. Nanlenil-U llauthin, a smalltown 

 of about IGOO inhabitants, at the head of the valley of the Nanette, 

 is the chief plaoe of a canton. It had formerly a large castle, which 

 was entirely destroyed in tho first French revolution. In the canton 

 of Nanteuil is the pretty village of ErmenonvMt, famous for its hand- 

 some church and castle. The castle and estates of Ermcnonville were 

 held by the Bouteiller family of Senlis, who were descended from 

 Charlemagne, till 1350, when it was sold to the count of Lorris. In 

 1690 the property passed to the Devics, one of whom (archbishop of 

 Auch) was buried in the church. Tho estate was again sold in 1754 

 to R<Sn(S Hatt^, maternal uncle of the Marquis de Qirardin, who became 

 afterwards poueasor of Ermcuouvilie. The marquis, whose desccndauts 



