Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/483

Rh M A N M A N 459 is 81 miles, the mean breadth from east to west about 28 miles, and the area 2289 square miles. The department is traversed from south to north by a range of hills, in many parts picturesque, and connected in the south with those of Maine and Brittany. In the (country round Mortain, which has been called the Switzer land of Normandy, they rise to a height of 1200 feet, and at Cherbourg their altitude is still from 500 to 600 feet. As a whole the department has an English aspect, with its broken and tide-beaten shores often enveloped in mist, and its ever-verdant meadows. The coast-line, running north ward along the bay of the Seine from the rocks of Grand Camp to Cape Barfleur, thence westward to Cape la Hague, and finally southward to the Bay of Mont St Michel, has a length of 200 miles. The Vire and the Taute (which re ceives the Ouve as a tributary on the left) fall into the sea at the Calvados border, and are united by a canal some miles above their mouths. From the mouth of the Taute a low beach runs to St Vaast la Hougue, where the coast becomes rocky, with sandbanks. Between Cape Barfleur and Cape la Hague lie the roads of Cherbourg, protected by the famous breakwater. The whole western coast is in hospitable ; its petty havens, lying behind formidable barriers and reefs, are almost dry at low tide. Great cliffs like the points of Jobourg (420 feet high) and Flamanville alternate with long strands such as that which extends for 30 miles from Cape Carteret to Granville. Between this coast and the Channel Islands the tide, pent up between numerous sandbanks, flows with a terrific force that has given these passages such ill-omened names as Passage de la Deroute and the like. The only important harbours are Granville and the haven of refuge of Dielette between Granville and Cherbourg. The chief stream is the Sienne with its tributary the Soulle flowing by Coutances. South of Granville the sands of St Pair are the commencement of the great Bay of Mount St Michel, whose area of 60,000 acres was covered with forest till the terrible tide of the year 709. The equinoctial tides reach a vertical height of nearly 50 feet. Amidst the foam rise the picturesque walls of the abbey, from the summit of a rock 400 feet high. The S6e, which waters Avranches, and the Couesnon (separating Manche from Ille-et-Vilaine) disembogue in the bay. The climate of Manche is mild and humid from its propinquity to the sea. At Cherbourg, in spite of the northerly exposure, the mean temperature is 3 Fahr. above the mean for that latitude over France. Frosts are never severe ; myrtles and fuchsias flourish in the open air. Ex cessive heat is also unusual ; the predominant winds are south-west. Rains are frequent, as the verdure of the country testifies, but they are not violent, the annual rain fall varying from 30 to 34 inches. Of the entire area more than the half is arable, 198,000 acres are meadow land, 52,000 are under wood, and 82,000 are heath. The soil is not naturally fertile, but vegetation is promoted by the humidity of the climate and by artificial improvements. The characteristic industry of the department is the rearing of horses and other live stock ; the horses number 92,839, besides several thousands of asses and mules, and there are 270,000 horned cattle, 277,000 sheep, upwards of 100,000 pigs, and 40,000 beehives. In 1876 the department yielded 1,458,476 hectolitres of wheat, 83,393 of meslin, 1,014,662 of barley, 427,360 of sarrasin, 484,365 of oats, 52,236 of rye, 683,834 of potatoes, 72,401 of dried legumes, 363,372 of beetroot, and 8758 quintals of hemp ; and in the same year there were manufactured 86,088 kilogrammes of linseed oil and 39,380 kilogrammes of colza oil. The arable and meadow lands occupy the eastern portion of the department ; legumes are grown in the west, where lands adapted for market gardening purposes are worth as much as 15,000 francs per hectare. Manche has a larger production of cider than any other department of France (upwards of 28,000,000 gallons). Besides apples, pears, plums, cherries, and figs are grown. The fields are lined with rows of oak, elm, and beech, which furnish good timber for building purposes. The aspen, poplar, walnut, and chestnut are also common. Some attempts at reclamation have been made along the sea-shore. The department contains valuable granite quarries in the Cherbourg arrondissement and the Chausay Islands ; there are also deposits of carboniferous marble, kaolin, talc, and of calcareous sand (&quot;tangue&quot;) used as manure. There are smiths forges and iron foundries, important brass foundries, and establishments for the manufacture of tools, needles, and other kinds of hardware. The port and arsenal of Cherbourg is very complete in all its appointments. The depart ment has 45 wool-spinning factories with 13,123 spindles, and 6 cotton-spinning mills with 50,000 spindles; and cloth-making, paper-making, tanning, and other industries are carried on. On the coast there are important beds for oyster culture, and the maritime population, when not engaged in the pursuit of the herring, mackerel, or lobster, collect ware and sea-grass. The shipping of Manche amounts to some 4600 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 29,000 tons ; the exports consist of butter, eggs, poultry, live stock, legumes, meat, fish, horses, grain, stone, brasiery, and hardware. The popu lation^ in 1876 was 539,910. There are six arrondissements (St L6, Avranches, Cherbourg, Coutances, Mortain, Valognes), 48 cantons, and 643 communes ; the capital is St L6. MANCHESTER, a city whose industries are famous throughout the civilized world, is situated in the south eastern corner of Lancashire, and forms the centre of the towns and villages which constitute the great English cotton district. The city of Manchester and the borough of Salford are about 180 miles north-west of London, and lie in 53 29 N. lat., 2 14 23&quot; W. long. The sister towns stand for the most part on a *level plain, the rising ground being chiefly on the north side. The rivers are the Irwell, the Medlock, the Irk, and the Tib, the last entirely overarched and covered by streets and warehouses. The Irwell, which separates Manchester from Salford, is crossed by a series of bridges ; it has here an average width of 91 feet and an average depth of about 7 feet ; and it discharges itself into the Mersey, which is about ten miles distant. The chief part of the district, before it was covered with the superficial drift of sand, gravel, and clay, consisted of upper New Red Sandstone with slight portions of lower New Red Sandstone, magnesian marls and upper red marls, hard sandstone and limestone rock, and cold clays and shales of contiguous coal-fields. The town, as its thousands of brick- built houses show, has been for the most part dug out of its own fields of clay. The parliamentary borough of Manchester has an area of 6349 acres; the municipal area is 4294 dcres. The parliamentary and municipal bound aries of Salford are identical, and have an area of 5208 acres. Paries and Statues. Of the parks and open spaces the principal is the Peel Park in Salford, containing an area of about 40 acres. In its centre is the building containing the SalforJ library, and also a valuable museum of natural history and a collection of paintings known as the Lang- worthy gallery (built and endowed by the late Mr E. R. Langworthy, a wealthy Manchester merchant). Among the notable pictures may be named the Last Sleep of Argyll and the Execution of Montrose, by Mr E. M. Ward. Seedley Park, Ordsall Park, and Albert Park have been recently constructed, and are situated in Salford, where also is the Kersal Moor, a bit of wild moorland, some 21 acres in extent, now under the care of the corporation of Salford. The moor has long been noted for the richness of its flora, about one-eighth of the English flowering plants having been gathered on its very limited area. It has also been the scene of an entomological incident of some interest the capture of the (Ecophara Woodiella, of which there is no other recorded habitat. The Queen s Park at Harpurhey is pleasantly situated, notwithstanding that it is now completely surrounded by cottages and manufactories. In the centre is a small museum, the chief interest of which depends upon a series of phrenological casts made by Gall and Spurzheim and completed by Bally. Philips Park is also attractive, not withstanding its close proximity to some of the densest