forty-eight cantons, and 669 communes; its territorial extent is 6890 kilometers; its principal town is Coutances.

5. The province of the Isle of France is divided into the departments of the Aisne, the Oise, the Seine, the Seine and Marne, and the Seine and Oise. The department of the Aisne contains five districts, thirty-seven cantons, and 853 communes; its territorial extent is 74224 kilometers; its principal town is Laon. The department of the Oise contains four districts, thirty-five cantons, and 738 communes; its territorial extent is 60824 kilometers; its principal town is Beauvois. The department of the Seine contains three districts, twenty cantons, and seventy-nine communes; its territorial extent is 453 kilometers; its principal town is Paris. The department of the Seine and the Marne contains five districts, twenty-nine cantons, and 561 communes; its territorial extent is 6127 kilometers; its principal town is Melun. The department of the Seine and Oise contains five districts, thirty-six cantons, and 696 communes; its territorial extent is 5880 kilometers; its principal town is Versailles.

6. The province of Champagne contains the departments of the Ardennes, of the Marne, of the Higher Marne, of the Aube, and the Yonne. The department of the Ardennes contains five districts, thirty-four cantons, and 599 communes; its territorial extent is 6242 kilometers; its principal town is Mezieres. The department of the Marne contains five districts, thirty-two cantons, and 699 communes; its territorial extent is 8486 kilometers; its principal town is Chalons. The department of the Higher Marne contains three districts, twenty-eight cantons, and 552 communes; its territorial extent is 6540 kilometers; its principal town is Chaumont. The department of the Aube contains five districts, twenty-six cantons, and 423 communes; its territorial extent is 6242 kilometers; its principal town is Troyes. The department of the Yonne contains five districts, thirty-four cantons, and 484 communes; its territorial extent is 7740 kilometers; its principal town is Auxerre.

7. The province of Lorraine is divided into the departments of the Meuse, the Moselle, the Meurthe, and the Vosges. The department of the Meuse contains four districts, twenty-eight cantons, and 591 communes; its territorial extent is 6275 kilometers; its principal town is Bar-le-duc. The department of the Moselle contains four districts, thirty cantons, and 934 communes; its territorial extent is 6552 kilometers; its principal town is Metz. The department of the Meurthe contains five districts, twenty-nine cantons, and 718 communes; its territorial extent is 6430 kilometers; its principal town is Nancy. The department of Vosges contains five districts, thirty cantons, and 550 communes; its territorial extent is 65224 kilometers; its principal town is Epinal.

8. The province of Alsace is divided into the departments of the Lower and the Higher Rhine. The department of the Higher Rhine contains five districts, thirty-nine cantons, and 703 communes its territorial extent is 6030 kilometers;

9. The province of Brittany comprehends the departments of the Ille and Villaine, the Lower Loire, Morbihan, the North Coast, and Finisterre. The department of the Ille and Villaine contains six districts, forty-three cantons, and 352 communes; its territorial extent is 7185 kilometers; its principal town is Rennes. The department of the Lower Loire contains five districts, fortyfive cantons, and 209 communes; its territorial extent is 7660 kilometers; its principal town is Nantes. The department of Morbihan contains four districts, thirty-seven cantons, and 231 communes; its territorial extent is 7067 kilometers: its principal town is Vannes. The department of the North Coast contains five districts, fortyseven cantons, and 376 communes; its territorial extent is 7567 kilometers; its principal town is Saint Brieux. The department of Finisterre contains five districts, forty-three cantons, and 287 communes; its territorial extent is 7292} kilometers; its principal town is Quimper.

10. The province of Maine is divided into the department of the Maine and the Sarthe. The department of the Maine contains three districts, twenty-seven cantons, and 288 communes; its territorial extent is 5452} kilometers; its principal town is Laval. The department of the Sarthe contains four districts, thirty-three cantons, and 413 communes; its territorial extent is 6467 kilometers; its principal town is Leillans.

11. The province of Anjou forms the department of the Maine and Loire, which contains five districts, thirty-four cantons, and 385 communes; its territorial extent is 7637 kilometers; its principal town is Angers.

12. The province of Touraine forms the department of the Indre and Loire, which contains three districts, twenty-four cantons, and 311 communes; its territorial extent is 6452 kilometers; its principal town is Tours.

13. The province of Orleannois comprehends the departments of the Eure and Loire, the Loire and Cher, and the Loiret The departmet of the Eure and Loire contains five districts, thirty-six cantons, and 843 communes; its territorial extent is 6182 kilometers; its principal town is Chartres. The department of the Loire and Cher contains three districts, twenty-four cantons, and 309 communes; its territorial extent is 6717 kilometers; its principal town is Blois. The department of the Loiret contains four districts, thirty-one cantons, and 363 com◄ munes; its territorial extent is 7047} kilometers; its principal town is Orleans.

14. The province of Poitou comprehends the departments of Vievere, the Two Sevres, and La Vendée. The department of Vievere contains five districts, thirty-one cantons, and 344 communes; its territorial extent is 7340 kilometers; its principal town is Poitiers. The department of the Two Sevres contains four districts, thirtyone cantons, and 363 communes; its territorial extent is 6337 kilometers; its principal town is

The articles of the definitive treaty between France and the allied powers relative to the boundaries of that kingdom, signed at Paris, 20th November, 1815, are so important, and so clearly mark the outline of her present territory, that we think proper to subjoin them.

Article I. The frontiers of France shall be the same as they were in the year 1790, save and except the modifications on one side and on the other, which are detailed in the present article. First, on the northern frontiers, the line of demarcation shall remain as it was fixed by the treaty of Paris, as far as opposite to Quiverain; from thence it shall follow the ancient limits of the Belgian provinces, of the late bishopric of Liege, and of the duchy of Bouillon, as they existed in the year 1790, having the territories included (enclavés) within that line of Phillipeville and Marienbourg, with the fortresses so called, together with the whole of the duchy of Bouillon without the frontiers of France. From Villers near Orval upon the confines of the department Des Ardennes, and of the grand duchy of Luxembourg as far as Perle, upon the great road leading from Thionville to Treves, the line shall remain as it was laid down by the treaty of Paris. From Perle it shall pass by Lauensdorf, Walwich, Schardorff, Niederveiling, Pelweiler (all these places with their banlieus or dependencies remaining to France) to Houvre; and shall follow from thence the old limits of the district (Pays) of Sarrebruck, leaving Sarrelouis and the course of the Sarre, together with the places situated to the right of the line above described, and their banlieus or dependencies without the limits of France. From the limits of the district of Sarrebruck, the line of demarcation shall be the same which at present separates from Germany the departments of the Moselle and of the Lower Rhine, as far as to the Lauter, which river shall from thence serve as the frontier until it falls into the Rhine. All the territory on the left bank of the Lauter, including the fortress of Landau, shall form part of Germany. The town of Weissenbourg, however, through which that river runs, shall remain entirely to France, with a rayon on the left bank, not exceeding 1000 toises, and which shall be more particularly determined by the commissioners who shall be charged with the approaching desig

nation of the boundaries.

II. Leaving the mouth of the Lauter, and continuing along the departments of the Lower Rhine, the Upper Rhine, the Doubs, and the Jura, to the canton de Vaud, the frontiers shall remain as fixed by the treaty of Paris. The Thalweg of the Rhine shall form the boundary between France and the states of Germany, but the property of the islands shall remain in perpetuity, as it shall be fixed by a new survey of the course of that river, and continue, unchanged, whatever variation that course may undergo in the lapse of time. Commissioners shall be named on both sides by the high contracting parties, within the space of three months, to proceed upon the said One-half of the bridge between Strasbourg and Kehl, shall belong to France, and the other half to the grand duchy of Baden.

survey.

III. In order to establish a direct communication between the canton of Geneva and Switzerland, that part of the Pays de Gex, bounded on the east by the lake Leman; on the south, by the territory of the canton of Geneva; on the north, by that of the Canton de Vaud; on the west by the course of the Versoix, and by a line which comprehends the communes of Collex, Bossy, and Meyrin, leaving the commune of Ferney to France, shall be ceded to the Helvetic confederacy, in order to be united to the canton of Geneva. The line of the French custom-houses shall

be placed to the west of the Jura, so that the whole of the Pays de Gex, shall be without that line.

IV. From the frontiers of the canton of Geneva, as far as the Mediterranean, the line of demarcation France from Savoy, and from the county of Nice. shall be that which, in the year 1790, separated

The relations which the treaty of Paris of 1814 had re-established between France and the principality of Monaco, shall cease for ever, and the same relations shall exist between that principality and his majesty the king of Sardinia.

V. All the territories and districts included (enclavés) within the boundary of the French territory, as determined by the present article, shall remain united to France.

VI. The high contracting parties shall name, within three months after the signature of the present treaty, commissioners to regulate every thing relating to the designation of the boundaries of the respective countries, and as soon as the labors of the commissioners shall have terminated, maps shall be drawn, and land-marks shall be erected, which shall point out the respective limits.'

Such are the general and departmental outlines of this important part of Europe. The surface of France is in general flat; not rising into any elevations that can be called mountainous, except in the central and southern provinces, i. e. upwards of 300 miles south of Calais, where among the sources of the Meuse, the Moselle, the Seine and the Saône, we meet with the mountains of Auvergne. Hence the Cevennes, a long range of mountains, proceeds from north to south in a course at first parallel with that of the Saône and subsequently of the Rhone, until, on approaching the Mediterranean, it branches off to the south-west and joins the Pyrenees. The greatest height of this range is in Auvergne, about lat. 45°, where this chain, or more properly a branch of it, attains, at the mountains called Cantal and Puy de Dôme, an elevation of 6000 feet, and is covered in its higher parts with snow during a great part of the year. Another, deaux to the south-east, a distance of 150 miles, but a much less lofty range, extends from Boruntil it reaches the Pyrenees, The smaller hains are numerous in the east and south-east of the kingdom, viz. in Lorraine, the Nivernois, Dauphiny, Provence; also in part of the interior, particularly the Limousin and Guienne. They are interspersed with extensive plains, but convert the whole of the south and south-east of France into rugged and elevated tracts. Down the eastern frontier, and nearly parallel to the course of the Rhine, run the Vosges, until they join Mount Jura, in the Alps, north of the lake of Geneva. The grandest range, however, for scenery is that portion of the Alps which separates France from Switzerland. Here is found the towering Mont Blanc, the highest point of Europe, and so much above the surrounding Alps as to be illuminated by the sun twenty minutes earlier and later. See our articles BLANC MOUNT, and EUROPE. Other remarkable peaks in this direction are Reculet and Dole, which are 5660 feet above the level of the sea. On the south of France the chain of the Pyrenees stretches from the port of Vendres, on the coast of the Mediterranean, to the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Spain. Its greatest breadth is forty leagues:

its highest summit 1751 toises above the level of the sea; the length about 212 miles. Mont Perdu is the highest elevation of the Pyrenees; Mont Canigou the chief of the Eastern Pyrenees: the hill is of difficult ascent, and is 1440 toises above the Mediterranean. The Pyrenean chain appears at a distance like a shaggy ridge, presenting the segment of a circle fronting France, and descending at each extremity. To the south and west they are sterile, but on the north and east, where the descent is more gradual, they afford frequent woods and excellent pasturage: near the summit of Mont Perdu is a large lake, upwards of 9000 feet above the level of the sea, which discharges its waters into Spain.

The forests of France constitute one of its principal geographical features. They are estimated to cover altogether a surface of 29,220 square miles, or upwards of 18,000,000 English acres; that is about an eighth of its territorial surface. Since the time of Cæsar, that of Ardennes has been the largest in France: it then extended from the Rhine to the Rhone, but is now much diminished at its extremities. The forest of Fontainbleau covers a space of about 25,000 acres. That of Orleans, including several plains and villages, is fifteen leagues in length, and from three to eight in breadth. It contains great variety of timber, such as oak, elm, fir, aspen, &c. Before the revolution the value of its timber annually was 100,000 livres: the profit being part of the appanage of the duke of Orleans.

M. Chaptal, in his treatise d'Industrie Francaise, estimates the woods which are

The hectare is about two-fifths of the English acre. Under the old government, the national forests yielded about 12,000,000 francs to the royal treasury. By the revolution, all forests formerly held by the corporate bodies and the emigrants were annexed to those of the state, which were thus increased to upwards of 4,000,000 arpents, or about one-fourth. These, added to the forests in Belgium, and on the left bank of the Rhine, in the year 1806, yielded rather more than 70,000,000 francs, according to the budget for that year. All forests above 300 acres were also added to the national domains, and declared inalienable. In the year 1800 the national forests were exempted from the land-tax. But the revolution did not abolish the arbitrary laws to which the private proprietors of woodlands were subject. According to these laws, the government appoints persons, who are proper judges of ship timber, to examine all the woods, and to mark such trees as they deem fit for their purpose, after which the proprietor must not lay the axe to them.

The rivers of France are numerous, and intersect and beautify the country in every direction. The Rhine now only waters the eastern frontiers of two departments. The Rhone, Seine, Loire, and

The

Garonne, are the other great streams. Rhone enters France from the lake of Geneva, and enters the Mediterranean by several mouths a few miles west of Marseilles. It passes in its course Lyons, Vienne, Valence, Montelimart, Avignon, Beaucaire, Tarascon, and Arles. The Seine, having a direction generally towards the north-west, rises in the department of Côte d'Or, and waters a series of beautiful valleys previous to its arriving at Paris; whence it follows a sinuous course to the English Channel, receiving a great number of tributary streams. The principal towns on its banks are Troyes, Melun, Paris, and Rouen. The Loire has its source in the western side of the Cevennes, and flows toIt then wards the north for about half its way. turns to the west and falls into the Bay of Biscay after a course of more than 450 miles. It receives about forty of the central rivers of the country, and is navigable for nearly ninety miles. The principal places it passes are Nevers, Orleans, Blois, Tours, Saumur, and Nantes.

The Garonne, rising in the northern side of the Pyrenees, flows nearly north-west into the Bay of Biscay: having most of its course through a flat country. It is joined by the Dordogne before it reaches the sea, and after the junction is called the Gironde. It passes Toulouse, Agen, and Bourdeaux, below which it opens into a large estuary, having an entire course of above 200 miles.

The

Other rivers in the northern departments are the Somme, which falls into the British Channel below Abbeville; the Oise and the Marne which enter the Seine; the Aisne tributary to the Oise; and the Meuse, the Moselle, and the Scheldt (l'Escaut) watering the central departments. The Vilaine discharges its waters into the ocean below La Roche-Bernard. Sarthe and the Loir unite above Angers, and, having joined the Mayenne at that town, they augment the Loire a little below. These collect their waters on the north of that river. The Creuse joins the Vienne, which with the Cher and the Indre enter the Loire from the south. The Yonne discharges itself into the Seine at Montereau. The Saone and the Doubs unite and afterwards flow into the Rhone. Of the southern rivers the three which fall into the Garonne are the Dordogne, the Lot, and the Tarn. The Adour runs into the sea at Bayonne. The Allier discharges itself into the Loire at Nevers; while the Isere and the Durance are both tributary to the Rhone.

The canals of France are few, and the general management of them very far behind that of our own internal navigation. The principal existing canals are:-1. The Canal de Briare, which unites the Loire near Briare, with the Loing at Cepoix; where also it receives the canal d'Or leans. From this place the canal of Montargs continues the navigation to the Seine. By mears of these, and the connecting rivers, France may be traversed from north to south. This canal contains forty-two locks, and is about fifty-five miles in length.-2. The Canal du Centre, als called the Canal of Charollois, and the Canal of the Three Seas, or of Digoin, is about twenty French leagues in length, and by means of