Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/352

Rh 332 S A V I E Situated between 45 5' and 45 55' N. lat. and between 5 37' and 7 5' E. long., it is bounded N. by the depart- ment of Haute-Savoie, N.W. by Ain, W. by Isere, S. by Hautes-Alpes, and S.E. and E. by Piedmont (Italy), the limits for the most part consisting of ridges of the Alps, and on the N.W. being determined by the Rhone and its affluents the Fier and the Guier. The highest point in the Vanoise group of mountains is 12,668 feet above the sea, while the Rhone leaves the department at a height of 695 feet, and the Isere about 800. Some details in regard to the orography will be found under ALPS (q.v.). The Isere flows east and west through the Tareutaise valley by Bourg St Maurice, Moutiers, Albert ville, and Montmelian; its principal tributary the Arc flows along the Maurienne valley used by the Mont Cenis Railway. The lake of Bourget discharges into the Rhone by the Savieres canal. The climate of the department varies according to altitude and exposure. At Chambery and Aix-les-Bains the average temperature is a little lower than that of Paris, but the rainfall is about 65 inches per annum, and this amount goes on increasing as the higher regions are reached. With a total area of 1,423,254 acres, Savoy comprises 434,921 acres of uncultivated ground, 239,700 acres of arable, 205,105 in forests, 172,980 in meadows, 27,183 in vineyards. More than the half of the inhabitants (194,704 out of 266,438) are engaged in agriculture. In 1881 there were in the department 97,487 cows, 19,328 oxen, 2570 horses, 3156 asses, 4207 mules, 98,826 sheep, (40 tons of wool), 19,428 pigs, 25,527 goats. About 1,870,000,000 gallons of milk are produced and 2463 tons of butter and 5911 tons of cheese are manufactured, of a total value of 500,000. From the 19,600 beehives were obtained in 1881 87 tons of honey and 16 of wax. The grape ripens up to an altitude of 2625 feet, and is cultivated to an altitude of 3940. Several growths of Savoy are in great repute and the vineyards were (before the invasion of the phylloxera) one of the most important products of the department. Tobacco is also cultivated. In 1883 the crops comprised wheat, 404, 665 bushels ; meslin, 104,500 ; rye, 679,668 ; barley, 212,883 ; buckwheat, 20,641 ; maize, 245,245 ; oats, 722,067 ; potatoes, 1,244,603 ; pulse, 54,120 ; chestnuts, 72,036 ; beetroot, 14,040 tons ; tobacco, 350 tons ; hemp, 585 tons ; colza-seed, 284 tons ; hemp- seed, 195 tons ; -wine, 3,895,496 gallons (annual average 4,128,520 gallons) ; cider, 137,258 gallons (average 69,058 gallons). Not- withstanding deplorable clearances, Savoy still possesses consider- able woods of pine, larch, beech, &c. The chestnut, of which the finest specimens are in the neighbourhood of Aix-les-Bains, grows, as do also the walnut and hazel, to a height of 3600 feet, the oak to 3900, the elm and the ash to 4250, the fir to 4900, and the pine to 7200. The department contains one of the richest deposits of spathic iron in Europe, and the Crcusot Company employs 700 hands in working it. Argentiferous lead and copper nave also been occasionally worked. The Maurienne and the Tarentaise are rich in anthracite, and yielded in 1882 16,687 tons of fuel. Peat covers 1413 acres, with a thickness varying from 8 inches to 8 feet, and there are rich beds of different kinds of marble, fifty-two quarries of building stone, and quarries of limestone, plaster, cement, and slate, as well as deposits of black lead, jet, asbestos, talc, mica, ochre, sulphate of baryta, zinc, antimony, arsenic, manganese, titanium, sulphur. The department is particularly rich in mineral waters, and the most famous, those of Aix-les- Bains (hot sulphurous) were frequented in the time of the Romans. The waters at Marlioz in the neighbourhood are sulphurous or alkaline (iodine, bromine). Those of Challes near Chambery rank among the most powerful of the natural sulphurous waters. The Sal ins-Mou tiers waters in the Tarentaise are hot, saline, and rich in various minerals ; the hot springs of Brides-les- Bains in the same region are rich in the sulphates of soda and calcium. Silk is the leading object of industry in the department (31 tons of cocoons in 1883). The winding of the cocoons, the milling of the silk (3500 " tavalles " and spindles), and the weaving of the silk-fabrics (803 looms, 55 being hand-looms) employ more than 1700 workmen, and the goods manufactured are valued at 380,000. Chambery produces 71,000 yards of high-class gauze, 3000 yards of velvet, 13,000 yards of handkerchiefs, and some 800,000 yards- of taffetas and various other silk stuffs. Linen manufactures employ 400 looms, woollen manufactures 1850 spindles. The peasants manu- facture about 125,000 yards of coarse woollen stuffs from their home-grown wool. The blast furnaces and iron-works produced in 1881 176 tons of manufactured iron. Tanneries, paper-mills, paper- pulp factories, brick-works, saw-mills, flour-mills, &c., are all of some importance in the department, which counts altogether sixty- one establishments with steam-engines of (aggregate) 271 horse power. The number of inhabitants engaged in industrial pursuits is 24,482, in commerce 14,016. Coal, skins, cotton, provisions are imported ; cattle, cheese, butter, wood, stones, and various building materials, mineral waters, silk stuffs, tanned leather, and paper are exported. There are 204 miles of national roads, 2518 miles of other roads, and 150 miles of railroad. The population was 266,438 in 1881. The department forms the three dioceses of Chambery (archbishopric), Moutiers, and St Jean-de-Mauricnne ; the court of appeal and university academy are at Chambery, ami the headquarters of the corps d'armee to which it belongs (the 14th) are at Grenoble. There are four arrondissements, Chainln'i y (16,000 inhabitants in the town), All>ertville (5000), Moutiers (2000), St Jean-de-Maurienne (3000), 29 cantons, and 328 com- munes. Aix-les-Bains (4741), owing to its hot springs, is the most important place in the department. SAVOIE, HAUTE-, a frontier department of France, formed in 1860 from the old provinces of Genevois, Chablais, and Faucigny, which constituted the northern half of the duchy of Savoy in the kingdom of Sardinia. Situated between 45 40' and 46 25' N. lat. and between 5 50' and 7 2' E. long., it is bounded N. by the Lake of Geneva, E. by the Valais canton, S.E. by the duchy of Aosta (Italy), S. and S.W. by the department of Savoie, W. by the department of Ain, from which it is separated by the Rhone, and N.W. by the canton of Geneva. Almost everywhere except in the last direction the boundaries are natural. The greater portion of the depart- ment is occupied by mountains usually under 8000 feet in height; but it includes Mont Blanc (15,781 feet), while the confluence of the Fier with the Rhone is only 950 feet above the sea. The streams are torrential, and they all join the Rhone either directly or by the Lake of Geneva or the Isere. Most important is the Arve which crosses the department from south-east to north-west from Mont Blanc to Geneva by Chamonix, Sallanches, and Bonneville, receiving from the right the Giffre and from the left the Borne. The Dranse falls into the Lake of Geneva between Evian and Thonon. Direct tributaries of the Rhone are the Usses and the Fier, the outflow of the Lake of Annecy. Passing Megeve, to the south-west of Chamouix, the Arly goes to the Isere. A remarkable variety of climate is produced by the differences of altitude and exposure ; it is mildest on the banks of the Lake of Geneva. Annecy has a moderate temperature, lower than that of Paris ; but some parts of the shores of the lake, well sheltered and having a good exposure, form health resorts even in winter. The rainfall on the Lake of Geneva hardly exceeds 24 inches ; it is three times as heavy in the mountains. Of the total area of 1,066,229 acres 345,959 acres are arable, 214,990 woodland, 132,206 uncultivated, 95,880 pasturage, 91,432 meadows, 21,252 vineyards. The live stock in 1880 comprised 9774 horses, 93,171 cows or heifers, 11,272 calves, 18,769 pigs, 25,331 goats, 33,000 sheep (wool-clip 41 tons), 21,525 hives (104 tons of honey, 38 of wax). Cheese is produced to the value of 220,000, and butter to 132,000. The harvest in 1883 included wheat, 1,472,381 bushels; meslin, 196,510; rye, 190,503. For 1880 the returns were barley, 136,043 bushels ; buckwheat, 88,178; maize, 10,928; oats, 793,721; potatoes, 3,730,800; pulse, 42,507; chestnuts, 66,462; besides beetroot, hemp, flax, and colza. In 1883 the vintage was 3,221,834 gallons, the average for 1873- 1882 being 3,199,570, and cider was produced to the ainount of 757,922 gallons (average 742,808). Tooaceo is successfully grown in a part of the department (Rumilly). Though much of the wood has been cut down, Haute-Savoie still contains fine pine forests below 7200 feet of altitude, and fir, larch, and beech woods below 5000 feet, the limit of the elm and ash being 4250, and that of the oak 4000. Splendid walnuts and chestnuts are to be found as high up as 2950 feet and hazels as high as 3600. Argentiferous lead ores and copper, iron, and manganese ores exist, but are not much worked. About 1000 tons of anthracite and lignite were raised in 1882, and 12,405 tons of asphaltic limestone. Jasper and other beautiful marble, freestone largely used in the buildings of Lyons and Chambery, limestone, and slates are all quarried. Mineral waters of various kinds abound (Amphion ami Evian, chalybeate ; St Gervais at the foot of Mont Blanc, hot, sulphurous, and chaly- beate ; Menthon, sulphurous ; La Caille, hot, sulphurous). Cotton manufacture is carried on at Annecy, where one establishment has 20,000 spindles, 600 power-looms, and 100 hand-looms, employing