FRA 
agriculture being the negleft of grafs, and the confequent 
want of manure. The cattle of Limoges, and fome other 
provinces, are of a beautiful cream colour. The fheep 
are ill-managed, having in winter only draw, indead of 
green food, as in England. Tlie confequences are poor 
fleeces, and fcarcity of (heep, fo that the poor are forced 
to eat bread only ; and large quantities of wool are con- 
flantly imported. Of ferocious animals the mod remark¬ 
able are the wild boar and the wolf; the ibex, or reck 
goat, is found on the Pyrenees and the Alps. Among the 
animals aimed peculiar to France, may be mentioned the 
Vefpertilio ferotina, Pipifirilla, Barbadella, the Oris 
tetrax, the Chadrius lutreus, &c. 
Gold mines anciently exided in the foutli of France, and 
fome of the rivulets dill wadi down particles of that me¬ 
tal. The ancient Gallic coins are of a bafe gold mingled 
with diver, being the metal dyled by the ancients elettrum: 
and fuch it is probable are the particles of gold which 
are found in the funds of the Rhone, between Tournon 
and Valance, and in thofe of the Ardeche. France can, 
however, boad of the diver mines at St. Marie-aux-Mines 
in Alface, and at Giromagny in the department of tlie 
Upper Rhine, near the mountains of Vofges, alfo a part 
of ancient Alface. The fame didribb contains mines of 
copper, a metal not unfrequent in the departments of the 
Alps, and thofe of the Loire, the Lozere, and the Ar¬ 
deche. Some appearances indicate tin in Bretagne, and 
even in the centre of France. Two-thirds of the lead 
of France are from Bretagne, particularly the mines of 
Poullaoven and Huelgoet ; mines of lead alfo occur in 
the maritime Alps, and in the mountains of Vofges, in 
the departments of Lozere, Ardeche, &c. Antimony 
occurs in the Ardeche, and in the department of the 
Allier, at Allemont in former Dauphine, and in that of 
Mont Blanc. There are alfo noted mines of calamine 
near Aix-la-Chapelle. Manganefe occurs in the depart¬ 
ment of the Loire, and in that of the Vofges ; and at 
Romaneehe, in the department of the Saone, and Loire ; 
it is alfo found near Perigou, whence it ufed to be called 
pierre de Perigord. Cobalt is another produdb of Alface. 
The new acquifitions in Savoy prefent fome mercury ; and 
there is a mine at Menildot. 
Iron, that mod important of metals, is found in abun¬ 
dance, particularly in fome of the northern departments. 
In 1798 it was computed that in France there were 2000 
furnaces, forges, & c. for the working of iron and deel. 
The coal mines of France were at the fame timeedimated 
at 400, conflantly wrought; and 200 more capable of 
being wrought. Of thefe coal mines many occur in the 
provinces which formerly belonged to Flanders, and in 
the departments of Boulogne, and Lamanche. Coal is 
alfo not unfrequent in the centre and fouth of France. 
Nearly allied to coal is jet, an article formerly of great 
confumption, chiefly in Spain, where it was made into 
rofaries, buttons for black dreffes, &c. France was 
from time immemorial in poffeffion of this branch, which 
was centered in three villages in the department of the 
Aude, in the fouth-weft of ancient Languedoc. In 1786 
it employed more than 1200 workmen; and the annual 
fupply of the mineral was computed at a thoufand quin¬ 
tals, or hundred-weight, Befides exports to Germany, 
Italy, and the Levant, Spain imported thefe jet manu¬ 
factures to the annual amount of 180,000 livres. Lat¬ 
terly jet was, in return, imported from the mines of Ar- 
ragon in Spain, to fupply this manufacture. That in the 
fouth of France is in beds like coal, but not continuous, 
and was fometimes rendered impure by a mixture of py¬ 
rites : it is commonly found in a kind of rufty earth, of an 
a(h colour; and fometimes occurs in maffes of the weight 
of fifty pounds, about five or fix fathom under the 
furface. 
Befides excellent freedone, the environs of Paris con¬ 
tain abundance of gypfum, which at Mont Martre is 
found curioufly crydallized. Alum is found in confider- 
able quantities at Aveyron. The Pyrenees in particular 
N C E. mt 
fupply beautiful marbles y and the extendee and various 
territories of France afford feveral precious ftones, as ihe 
aqua marina, the hyacinth, the chryfolite, and the 
fapphire. 
The chief mineral waters of France are thofe of Bar- 
rege, Baniere, Forges, Vichi, Bourbonne, Balaruc, Plom- 
bieres. The warm baths of Barrege, in particular, at the 
foot of the Pyrenees, have been long celebrated. The 
baths of Bagneres are in the fame neighbourhood. 
The beautiful fpring or fountain of Vauclule, Celebrated 
by Petrarch, rife fudaenly from a cavern at the bottom of 
a perpendicular rock, and foon forms a confiderable river. 
Tlie noted plain of La Crau, which lies in Provence, 
not far from the mouth of the Rhone, particularly merits 
notice, as forming the mod lingular ftony defert that is to 
be found in Europe. The diameter is about five leagues,, 
and the contents from twenty to twenty-five leagues 
fquare, or about 150,000 Englifh acres. It is entirely 
compofea of fhingle, orround gravel ; fome of the (tones 
as large as the head of a man, and the fliingle of the fea. 
(bore is not more barren of foil. 
F The ides round France are fmall and unimportant, and 
wpuld fcarc.ely be deferving of notice, were it not for 
Jhpfe events which have often taken place during the 
War^ with England. The ide of Corliea muff however 
be 'excepted, if it dtould continue to be regarded as a 
part of the French territory. The ides called Hyeres, neaT 
Toulon, as Mr. Young informs us,, have a barren and 
naked appearance, and only prefent fome melancholy 
pin£s. They however contain many botanic riches, and 
may claim the fame of being Homer’s ide of Calypfo. 
On the vvedern coad firft occurs the ide of Oleron, about 
fourteen miles long by two broad, celebrated for a code 
of maritime laws iffued by Richard L of England, of 
wh.ofe French territory this ifiand condituted a portion. 
To the north is the ide of Re, oppodte Rochelle, noted 
for an expedition of the Englifh in the feventeenth cen¬ 
tury, deferibed by lord Herbert of Cherbury. Yeu is 
an infignificant ille, followed by Noirmoutier, which be¬ 
came remarkable in the war of La Vendee, about eight 
miles long and two in breadth. Belleiile has been repeat¬ 
edly attacked by the Englidi : it is about nine miles long 
and three broad, furrounded by deep rocks, which, with 
the fortifications, render the conqued difficult. The ide 
of Ufhant, or Oueffant, is remarkable as the furthed head¬ 
land of France towards the wed, being about twelve 
miles from the continent, and about nine in circumfer¬ 
ence, with feveral hamlets, and about 600 inhabitants. 
Several other fmall ides occur which do not merit notice, 
till we come to thofe of St. Marcou, about (even miles 
fouth-ead of La Hogue ; they received their name, it is 
believed, from a Norman faint, Marcoul, abbot of Nan- 
touille, who died in 558. Such is the external feature of 
the empire of France : we now pafs to its 
PRIMITIVE HISTORY. 
France was originally peopled by the Celtes or Gauls. 
The general character of all thefe tribes was an excedive 
ferocity, mingled with an unconquerable love of liberty. 
Their univerfal contempt of death, according to Strabo” 
very much facilitated their conqued by Crefar; for’ 
pouring their numerous forces upon fuch an experienced 
enemy as the Romans, their want of difeipline very fbou 
proved the ruin of the whole. We learn alfo from Ctefar, 
that the druids were the prieds or miniders of religion! 
and the judges and arbiters of all differences and difputes 
among them, the fame as noticed under the article En¬ 
gland, vol. vi. p.537. 
The ancient hidory of the Gauls, like that of mod 
other countries, is wrapped up in obfeurity and darknefs; 
all we know concerning them is, that they multiplied fo 
fad, that, Gaul being unable to contain them, they poured 
forth in vad multitudes into other neighbouring diftriCts, 
which they generally fubdued, and fettled themfelves in! 
The earliefi irruption of this people, of which we have 
any 
