Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/379

 FRANCE 367 boundary line, it is flanked by precipitous Al- pine slopes, and gradually assumes the charac- ter of the Ligurian Riviera. Besides the two great mountain chains which form the limits of France toward Spain and Italy, several others of minor importance, belonging to the Alpine and Pyrenean systems, intersect the country. The principal of these chains, which is but a part of the great European watershed, starts from the Pyrenees, taking first a winding course E. N. E. nearly parallel to the Mediter- ranean shore, then setting northward, under the names of Black mountains, Cevennes, and Cote d'Or ; near lat. 48, where it is called the pla- teau of Langres and Monts Faucilles, it makes a curve eastward, and then branches, project- ing northward the Vosges, and southward va- rious ridges which, through the Jura, connect with the Alps. This chain thus divides France into two very unequal parts, the greater slo- ping toward the Atlantic and the English chan- nel, the smaller toward the Mediterranean. Four ranges, the general direction of which is N. W., branch off from this watershed and sep- arate the basins of the various rivers flowing into the Atlantic and the English channel : 1, the hills known as the eastern Ardennes; 2, the western Ardennes, connecting with the hills of Picardy and Artois ; 3, the branch con- sisting of the Morvan mountains, the hills of the Orleans forest, those of lower Normandy, and the Monts d'Arree, extending through the N. part of Brittany ; 4, the mountains of Au- vergne, which may be more properly called a cluster, of which the mountains of Limousin and hills of Poitou are but the continuation. The Pyrenees also send some secondary ramifica- tions through the southwest. The highest sum- mits of this great chain within the limits of France are from 9,000 to 11,000 ft. above the sea. In the Cevennes ridge, Mt. Mezin is 5,790 ft. high. The Reculet and the Dole tower over the ranges of the Jura to about 5,500 ft. Among the rounded summits of the Vosges, which are called "balloons," the only one deserving no- tice is the Ballon d' Alsace, in the southern part of this chain. The group of Auvergne presents the Puy de Dome, Mt. Dor or Dore, and the Plomb du Cantal, rising to a height of about 6,000 ft. The loftiest summit of the country (excluding Mt. Blanc, which since the annex- ation of Savoy is exactly on the Italian bound- ary, but cannot properly be considered as with- in French territory) is the Pointe des ficrins in the Mont Pelvoux group of the Dauphiny Alps, which is about 13,500 ft. (according to other measurements, Mt. Olan). The great W. slope of France is divided into three parts, one inclined toward the North sea, another toward the Eng- lish channel, and the third toward the Atlantic. The first is drained by the Moselle, the Meuse, which flows in a northern direction between the E. and W. Ardennes, and the Scheldt (Escaut) ; the last two are properly Belgian. The Somme, the Seine, the Orne, the Yire, and the Ranee flow into the English channel. The Seine 331 VOL. VIL 24 rises at St. Seina, at the foot of the C6te d'Or, runs in a N. W. direction, receives on its left the Yonne, and on its right the Aube, the Marne, and the Oise, and flows into the sea at Havre. The Atlantic receives the Aulne, the Blavet, the Vilaine, the Loire, the Sevre- Niortaise, the Charente, the Gironde, and the Adour. The Loire, which is the largest river and waters the most central part of the coun- try, rises in the Cevennes, at Mt. Mezin, runs N. and N. W. to Orleans, and thence S. W. and W. with a somewhat tortuous course to its mouths. It receives on the right the Nievre, and further down the Mayenne, which, after being joined by the Sarthe, assumes in its lower part the name of Maine; on the left the Allier, the Cher, the Indre, the Vienne swollen by the confluence of the Creuse, and the Sevre-Nan- taise. The Loire and its tributary streams, particularly those from the south, roll down immense quantities of gravel and sand, which, continually shifting, render the navigation dif- ficult and dangerous. A great dike, called the "Levee of the Loire," the origin of which is lost in antiquity, bounds the course of the river on the right bank from Blois to Angers ; this vast work is generally about 25 ft. high and 40 broad. The Garonne, which has its source in the valley of Aran in Catalonia, follows one of the passes of the Pyrenees, flows N. E. until it reaches Toulouse, then turns N. W. and becomes navigable ; it receives on the right the Tarn and the Lot, passes Bordeaux, where it is half a mile wide, and meeting the Dor- dogne about 12 miles below this city, takes the name of Gironde, forms several islands, and broadening into an estuary empties into the sea. The navigation between Bordeaux and the sea is impeded by many shoals ; the tide flows up about 80 m., and is sometimes pre- ceded by a huge billow that sweeps destruc- tively along the shore. This phenomenon is called the mascaret. The Adour, rising in the Pyrenees, has a semicircular course toward the bay of Biscay, into which it enters after receiving numerous mountain streams. The E. slope, which is inclined toward the Medi- terranean, is enclosed between the Jura and the Alps on one side, the C6te d'Or and the CeVennes on the other. It is drained almost entirely by the Rhone and its branches. The Rhone, which, rising in Switzerland, enters France below Geneva, is not very wide, and runs generally with the impetuosity of a tor- rent. It joins the Saone at Lyons, and flows S. to the Mediterranean, discharging by sev- eral branches, forming a delta. It is joined on the left by the Isere, the Dr6me, and the rapid Durance, which, like the Isere, rises in the Alps. The few lakes of France scarcely deserve the name ; the largest is that of Grand Lieu, near the mouth of the Loire; the most picturesque are those of G6rardmer in the Vosges, and Nantua in the southern part of the Jura. The geological outline of France is easily marked. A belt of granitic rocks,