310 SMALL INDUSTRIES AND 



which Lyons is the centre * includes the de- 

 partments of Rhone, Loire, Drome, Saone-et- 

 Loire, Ain, the southern part of the Jura de- 

 partment, and the western part of Savoy, as 

 far as Annecy, while the silkworm is reared 

 as far as the Alps, the Cevennes Mountains, 

 and the neighbourhoods of Macon. It con- 

 tains, besides fertile plains, large hilly tracks, 

 also very fertile as a rule, but covered with 

 snow during part of the whiter, and the rural 

 populations are therefore bound to resort to 

 some industrial occupation in addition to 

 agriculture ; they find it hi silk-weaving and 

 various small industries. Altogether it may be 

 said that the region lyonnaise is characterised 

 as a separate centre of French civilisation 

 and art, and that a remarkable spirit of re- 

 search, discovery and invention has developed 

 there in all directions scientific and indus- 

 trial. 



The Croix Rousse at Lyons, where the silk- 

 weavers (canuts) have their chief quarters, is 

 the centre of that industry, and in 1895 the 

 whole of that hill, thickly covered with houses, 

 five, six, eight and ten storeys high, resounded 

 with the noise of the looms which were busily 

 going in every department of that big agglom- 

 eration. Electricity has lately been brought 

 * For further details see Appendix U. 



