Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/383

 CHEPSTOW CHERBOURG 375 reality that which contained the body of the second Shufu, who, surviving his brother, was considered his successor. CHEPSTOW, a market town of Monmouth- shire, England, on the Wye, and on the rail- way from Gloucester to Milford Haven, 12 in. S. of Monmouth ; pop. in 1871, 6,770. It con- tains an ancient church, formerly belonging to the Benedictine priory, recently restored to its former splendor, a Catholic and several dissent- Castle of Chepstow. ing chapels, and a castle founded in the llth century by William Fitzosborne, earl of Here- ford, rebuilt in the 13th, and still a magnificent pile. On account of the narrowness of the channel here, the tide sometimes rises, it is said, 70 ft., frequently more than 50. The town pos- sesses a large trade in timber, coals, millstones, and iron. There are no manufactures, but ship building is carried on to some extent. CHER, a river of France, rises in the depart- ment of Creuse, flows N., N. W., and W., and after a course of 220 m., during which it de- scribes a semicircle, joins the Loire near Tours. The canal of Berry runs parallel to it in the upper part. Its principal affluents are the Tardes, Arnon, and Sauldre. It is navigable 47 m. from the Loire. CHER, a central department of France, formed of portions of the old provinces of Berry and Bourbonnais, and bordering on the departments of Loiret, Nievre, Allier, Creuse, Indre, and Loir-et-Cher ; area, 2,780 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 335,392. It is bounded E. by the Loire and intersected by its tributary the Cher, and drained by several other streams. The surface is comparatively level. There are mines of iron, manganese, lead, and coal, and marble and other quarries. It is one of the most im- portant industrial departments of France, hav- ing manufactories of iron, woollen, and linen, and of porcelain, glass, and other wares. The most important agricultural productions are wine, grain, cattle, and wool. The department is divided into the arrondissements of Bourges, St. Amand, and Sancerre. Capital, Bourges. CHER1SCO, a town of Italy, in the province of Cuneo, situated on an elevation near the junction of the Stura and Tanaro rivers, 18 m. N. of Mondovi ; pop. about 9,000. It contains a college, several palaces, conspicuous trium- phal arches, and seven churches, of which that of the Madonna del Popolo is celebrated for its altar. Silk is manufactured, and there is a trade in grain and wine. Organic remains abound in the vicinity, and petrified wood is found in the adjoining hill of S. Bartolommeo. A treaty of peace was signed here in 1631, terminating the Mantuan war of succes- sion between Austria and France. In April, 1796, after the battle of Mon- dovi, the French troops advanced upon Cherasco, which speedily surrender- ed, and the Sardinian com- missioners concluded an armistice, preliminary to a treaty of peace with Na- poleon. The French de- stroyed the ancient fortifi- cations in 1801. CHERBOURG (anc. Cori- allum or Cortallum, after- ward Carusbur), one of the principal seaports and naval stations of France, in the department of La Manche, 185 m. W. N. W. of Paris, with which it is connected by rail- way ; pop. in 1872, 37,357. It is situated on the Ni shore of the peninsula of Cotentin, at the mouth of the Divette, in the centre of a bay, the extremities of which are formed by Cape Levi on the east and Cape La Hague on the west. The roadstead, in a bay at the N. extremity of a narrow promontory, has been formed by the construction of an immense breakwater up- ward of 2 m. long, running E. and W., partly across its mouth, and composed of two unequal arms, joined at an angle of 170, with the opening toward the land. This stupendous work, com- menced in 1784, was complete^ in 1854, at a cost of 67,300,000 francs. (See BREAKWATER.) The roadstead which it serves to defend has anchorage for 400 large vessels. At each end of the breakwater is an entrance to the harbor 1,000 yards wide. The commercial harbor is at the head of an inner bay at the S. end of the roads, near the mouth of the Divette, and con- sists of an outer basin communicating with the sea by a channel 656 yards long and 55 yards wide, bordered with long quays, and with an inner floating dock, closed by flood gates. The military port is distinct from this, and lies on the W. shore of the same recess, facing N. E. It comprises three large docks, viz. : an outer one, 984 ft. long and 754 ft. wide ; another on the north, communicating with the former, and closed by lock gates ; and a third on the west, larger than either of the others, through which it must be entered. All these have been exca-