Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/130

Rh V A U V A U Louis, and Mardyke in 1662 lie had charge of the work of fortifying them as frontier towns. On the renewal of war in 1667 he saw much service in Flanders, and gained special distinction in the siege of Lille, of which town he ultimately became governor, the king making him a lieutenant in the guards and bestowing on him a pension. The originality and success of his methods were now fully recognized, and in 1669 he drew up, at the instance of Louvois, his first exposi tion of the theory of fortification (Memoire pour Servir d Instruction dans la Conduite des Sieges), which was after wards published at Leyden (1740). In 1673 Vauban ac companied Louis XIV. on his Dutch campaign, and directed the more important sieges, afterwards superintending the demolition or reconstruction of the captured places. In the following year his principal achievement was the capture of Maestricht, and in 1677 he had the chief credit for the fall of Valenciennes and Cambrai. In the latter year he was appointed commissary-general of fortifications in succession to Clerville, and thus gained an opportunity, which in the folloAving year he diligently used, for practically reconstruct ing the entire land-defences of France. In the short war of 1683-84 he gained further distinction by the fall of Luxem bourg, and during the campaign of 1691-92 the names of Mons and Namur were added to the long list of his successes. In 1686 Vauban had the courage to make a representation to the king in favour of the republication of the Edict of Nantes ; and about 1697 he wrote his almost equally bold Projet dune Dixme Royale, which, however, was not pub lished until 1707 (see POLITICAL ECONOMY, vol. xix. p. 359). In 1693 he was made a grand cross of the order of St Louis, and in 1703 marshal of France. The close of his life, which was saddened by the consciousness of waning influence and failing health, he devoted largely to the arrangement of the voluminous manuscripts (Mes Oisivetes} which contained his reflexions on such subjects as the art of war, administration and finance, agriculture, commerce, and the like. He died at Paris on 30th March 1707. For Vauban s work as a military engineer, see FORTIFICATION (vol. ix. pp. 441-446). The Oisivetes long remained unpublished, and of the twelve manuscript volumes containing them several seem to have been hopelessly lost ; the fragmentary remains were published in three volumes at Paris in 1841-43. The Traite de I Attaque dcs Places, written in 1703, and that De la Defense des Places, written a few months before his death, were published together in 1737. Among the subjects in which Vauban took a lively interest, and on which he wrote memoirs, may be mentioned the fortification of Paris, the inland navigation of France, its army organization, espe cially in the artillery service, and the limits of ecclesiastical power in temporal matters. The introduction of the socket-bayonet into the French army is usually ascribed to Vauban. VAUCLUSE, a department of France, formed in 1793 out of the county of Venaissin (695 square miles), the principality of Orange (62| square miles), and a part of Provence (515^- square miles), lies between 43 39 and 44 26 N. lat. and 4 38 and 5 45 E. long., is bounded by Drome on the N., Basses-Alpes on the E., Bouches-du- Ilhone (from which it is separated by the Durance) on the S., and Gard and Ardeche (from which it is separated by the Rhone) on the W. It has also an enclave, the canton of Valreas, in the department of Drome. The western third of Vaucluse belongs to the Rhone valley, and con sists of the rich and fertile plains of Orange, Carpentras, and Cavaillon. To the east, with a general west-south west direction and parallel to one another, are the steep barren ranges of Ventoux, Vaucluse, and Luberon, consist ing of limestones and sandstones. The first -mentioned, which is the most northerly, has a maximum elevation of 6273 feet; the culminating peak, on which is a meteoro logical observatory, is isolated and majestic. The Vaucluse chain does not rise above 4075 feet. The most southerly range, that of Luberon (3691 feet), is rich in paheonto- logical remains of extant mammals (the lion, gazelle, wild boar, etc.). The Rhone is joined on the left by the Aygues, the Sorgue (rising in Petrarch s celebrated fountain of A T aucluse, which has given its name to the department), and the impetuous Durance. The Sorgue has an import ant tributary in the Ouveze and the Durance in the Coulon (or Calavon). These and other streams feed numerous irrigation canals; their channels are sometimes quite dry in summer. The climate is that of the Mediter ranean region. The valley of the Rhone suffers from the mistral (see vol. ix. p. 507) ; but the other valleys are sheltered by the mountains, and produce the oleander, pomegranate, olive, jujube, fig, and other southern trees and shrubs. The mean annual temperature is 55 Fahr. at Orange and 58 at Avignon ; the extremes of tempera ture are 5 and 105 Fahr. Snow is rare. The south wind, which is frequent in summer, brings rain. The average annual rainfall is 29 inches in the hill region and 22 in the plains. Of the total area of 881,610 acres 679,737 are cultivated, cereals occupy ing 232, 250 acres, market and other gardens 41, 085, meadows, pastures, and orchards 89,950, industrial vegetable products 18,993, summer fallows 58,489, vines 24,699, and woods and forests 197,049. The live stock in 1880 included 11,412 horses, 16,602 mules, 4410 asses, 2079 head of cattle, 46,406 pigs, 11,660 goats, and 165,040 shee-p of native and 6983 of improved breed. There were 11,701 beehives (104 tons of honey and 23 tons of wax). Amongst wild animals the otter and beaver occur along the bank of the Rhone. The crops in 1884 were returned as follows 2, 151,385 bushels of wheat, 7309 of meslin, 39,476 of rye, 60,208 of barley, 1677 of buckwheat, 17,162 of maize, 240,850 of millet, 445,920 of oats, 4,247,600 of potatoes, 21,680 tons of beetroot, and 197 tons of tobacco. In 1880 early vegetables were produced to the value of 384,940, and stone fruit to the value of 13,341. The olive crop amounted to 233,928 bushels (622 tons 17 cwts. of oil). In 1884 4,779,236 gallons of wine were obtained (average for preceding ten years 2,562,384 gallons). In the same year 766 tons of silk cocoons were produced. The phylloxera has reduced the area of the vine yards from 79,000 to 13,000 or 14,000 acres ; American vines are now being introduced. The culture of madder and the mulberry is diminishing, while the Chinese grass-cloth plant, beetroot, sorghum, and millet are grown in increasing quantities. The truffle markets of Carpentras and Apt are important. Lignite and coal (11,382 tons in 1882), iron, and sulphur are mined ; rich deposits of plaster, stone, clay, and ochre are worked ; and there is a large variety of mineral springs. The chief industrial establishments are manu factories of madder dye, silk-mills (4295 workmen), silk-spinning factories (3365 spindles and 411 workmen), oil-mills, flour-mills, paper-mills (1047 workmen and 2700 tons of paper in 1880), wool-spinning factories (2645 spindles and 369 workmen), confec tionery establishments, manufactories of pottery, earthenware, bricks, mosaics, tinned provisions, chemicals, candles, soap (2500 tons in 1880), and hats, breweries, puddling works, iron and copper foundries, cabinet workshops, blast furnaces, saw-mills, edge-tool workshops, and nursery gardens. Coarse cloth, carpets, blankets, and ready-made clothes are also produced. Vaucluse has 135 miles of railway, 97 of national roads, and 2380 of other roads. The population increased by 74,670 between 1801 and 1865, but from that date to 1886 it diminished by 24,304, owing to the decay of the madder and wine industries. In 1881 the department had 244,149 inhabitants, and in 1886 241,787. Vaucluse forms the archiepiscopal diocese of Avignon, has its court of appeal at Nimes, and belongs to the Marseilles army corps. It is divided into 4 aiTondissements (Avignon, chef -lieu of the department, with 35,355 inhabitants in 1886 ; Apt, 4293 ; Carpentras, 8563 ; and Orange, 6904), 22 cantons, and 150 communes. Cavaillon (5164 inhabitants) is famous for its early vegetables and its fruit. Vaison (1988 inhabitants) is rich in Roman remains, and possesses an interesting cathedral and a ruined castle of the counts of Toulouse. VAUD (Germ. Waadt], a canton of Switzerland, ranking as nineteenth in the Confederation, takes its name either from the German Wald (a wood) or, more probably, from Wdlsch, the term applied by Teutonic to non-Teutonic tribes. It is of very irregular shape, as it owes its exist ence solely to historical causes. Roughly speaking, it includes the whole north shore of the Lake of Geneva. It stretches on the south-east as far as St Maurice and takes in Chateau d Oex, while to the north-west the Jura and the Lake of Neuchatel are its boundaries. The dis trict of Avenches (entirely surrounded by the canton of