Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/540

 506 FRANCE [RIVERS, Rivers. lying between the Rhone on the east and the Garonne and Loire on the west ; here, proceeding from south to north, we have Mont Naurouze, the Pic of Montaut (3412 feet), the Malpertus (5512 feet), the Hort de Dieu (5135 feet), Mont Pila (4474 feet, Vivarais), Gerbier des Jones (5121 feet), Mezenc (5320 feet), Tarare (4757 feet), Haute-Joux (3262 feet, Charolais). Smaller chains detach themselves from the Cevennes, among which may be noticed the Montagnes d Auvergne, the Plomb du Cantal (6095 feet), the Puy-de-Saucy (6220 feet), the Puy-de-Doine (4806 feet), the Mount Dore (6187 feet), the mountains of Limousin, and those of Velez, Forez, and Madeleine. The Vosges, which reach no great height, trend northward between the Rhine and the Moselle. Their ramifications are the hills of Belfort, the Faucilles mountains, the Langres plateau, the Montagnes de la Cote d Or, which are eon- tinued by the mountains of Morvan, the Orleans plateau, and the hills of Picardy, Normandy, and Brittany. The Vosges end in the north with the Argonne and the Ardennes, which separate the Seine from the Meuse. The Jura is a chain of the Alps extending between the Rhine and the Rhone from the north-east to south-west. Its principal summits are the Cret de la Neige (5656 feet), the Reeulet (5630 feet), Mont Tendre (5518 feet), and the Dole (5514 feet). Mont Blanc (15,780 feet), the highest mountain in Europe, is in the Alps of Savoy, which pro ject the Graian Alps, the mountains of Maurienne (Mount Cenis), the Cottian Alps, the Maritime Alps, the Alps of Dauphin6, and the Alps of Provence. As may be seen from these particulars, the surface of France exhibits, in general, an advantageous succession of high and low ground. Less level than Poland, the north of Germany, or the greater part of European Russia, it is, on the whole, less mountainous than Spain or Italy, and may with great propriety be compared to England, with this distinction that, whilst in the latter the mountainous tracts are in the north and west, in France they are in the south and east. Throughout Flanders, Picardy, Normandy, and the countries to the north and south of the Loire, we find plains, diver sified occasionally by hills (either insulated or rising in suc cession), but having none of those massy elevations entitled to the name of mountains. The south and east of France, on the contrary, are rugged and elevated tracts, and may be said to be to that country what Wales and Scotland are to Great Britain. Hydrography. The course of the great rivers is easily connected with this view of the surface of the territory of France. With the exception of the Rhone, they all flow either from south to north or from east to west, and dis charge themselves into the North Sea, the Channel, and the Atlantic. The Rhine, which not long ago formed the boundary between France and Germany, has part of its basin in France ; the Moselle, one of its affluents, takes its source in the Vosges (Ballon d Alsace), and waters Re- miremont, Epirial, Toul, and Pont-a-Mousson, before enter ing the German territory ; the Valogne, the Meurthe, and the Seille are its tributaries. The Meuse rises not far from Bourbonne-les-Bains, and becomes a Belgian river at Givet. During its course, it receives on its right bank the Chiers and the Semoy, and on its left the Bar and the Sambre. The Escaut (or Scheldt) has its source near Le Catelet (Aisne), and leaves France after having watered Cambrai, Valenciennes, and Conde ; the upper courses of its two affluents, the Scarpe and the Lys, also belong to France. The Somme, which receives the Avre, rises near St Quentin, and empties itself into the Channel between St Valery and Le Crotoy. The Seine, one of the four large rivers of France, the others being the Loire, the Garonne (Gironde), and the Rhone, descends from the Langres plateau, flows north-west down to Mdry, turns to the west, resumes its north-westerly direction at Montereau, passes through Paris, and discharges itself into the Channel be tween Le Havre and Honfleur above Rouen and Quillebceuf. Its affluents are, on the right, the Aube, the Marne (which joins the Seine at Charenton near Paris, after having received the Ourcq and the Saulx), the Oise (which has its source in Belgium and is enlarged by the Aisne), and the Epte ; on the left the Yonne, the Loing, the Essonue, the Eure, and the Rille. The Orne is a short river, which waters Argentan and Caen (Normandy), and flows into the Channel. The Vilaine, not much more considerable, passes Rennes, Redon, and La Roche-Bernard (Brittany), near which it falls into the Atlantic. The Loire rises in Mount Gerbier des Jones, in the range of the Vivarais mountains, flows due north to Nevers, then turns to the north-west as far as Orleans, where it takes its course towards the south-west, and lastly from Saumur runs west, till it reaches the Atlantic between Paimbceuf and St Na- zaire. It passes through several large towns, as Nevers, Orleans, Tours, Angers, and Nantes. On the right the Loire receives the waters of the Furens, the Aroux, the Nievre, the Maine (formed by the Mayenne and the Sarthe with its afflu ent the Loir), and the Erdre, which joins the Loire at Nantes; on the left, the Allier (which receives the Dore and the Sioule), the Loiret, the Cher, the Indre, the Vienne with its affluent the Creuse, the Thouet, and the Sevre-Nantaise. The Loire, the longest of French rivers, is navigable for about 512 miles of its course. It is often in many places dried up during the hot season of the year, while, on the other hand, it is subject to frequent and disastrous floods at the time when the snows melt in the upper valleys, or as a consequence of the long rains of autumn. The Charente descends from Cherouuac (Haute-Vienne), traverses Angou- leme, and falls into the Atlantic not far from Rochefort. The Garonne rises in the valley of Aran (Spanish Pyrenees), enters France near Bagneres-de-Luchon, has first a north west course, then bends to the north-east, and soon resumes its first direction. It flows through Toulouse, Agen, and Bordeaux, and joins the Atlantic between Royan and the Point de Grave, opposite the tower of Cordouan. In the lower part of its course, from the Bec-d Ambez, where it receives the Dordogne, it becomes considerably wider, and takes the name of Gironde. The principal affluents are the Ariege, the Tarn with the Aveyron and the Agout, the Lot, and the Dordogne, which descends from the Mont Dore-les-Bains, and joins the Garonne at Bec-d Ambez, to form the Gironde. All these affluents are on the right; the Gers is the only one of note which joins it on the left. The Adour rises near the Pic-du-Midi in the Pyrenees, and discharges itself into the Bay of Biscay at Bayonne ; the mass of its waters is much increased in winter by several mountain streams, of which the Gave de Pau, the Bidouze, and the Nive may be mentioned. The He rault is the first river of France which runs south and discharges itself into the Mediterranean. It comes from the Mont Laigonat in the Cevennes, and debouches into the Gulf of Lyons. The Rhone, the source of which is in Mount St Gotthard, in Switzerland, enters France by the narrow defile of L Ecluse, and has a somewhat meandering course, first flowing south, then north-west, and then west as far as Lyons, whence it runs straight south till it reaches the Mediterranean, into which it discharges itself by two prin cipal branches, which form the delta or island of the Camargue. Lyons, Vienne, Valence, Avignon, Beaucaire, Aries, are the chief towns passed by the impetuous waters of the Rhone. The Ain, the Saone (which passes through Macon, receives the Doubs, and joins the Rhone at Lyons), the Ardeche, and the Gard are the affluents on the right ; on the left we may mention the Arve, the Isere, the Drome, and the Durance. The Var, a large and rapid stream,