RHÔNE, a department of France, formed out of the ancient districts of the Lyonnais and the Beaujolais. It is situated between 45. 26. and 46. 25. of north latitude, and between 4. 12. and 4. 37. of east longitude. It extends over 982 square miles, and is divided into two arrondissements, which in the year 1836 contained twenty-five cantons and 253 communes, with 482,024 inhabitants, who mostly adhere to the Catholic Church. The face of the country is irregular, in all parts hilly, and in some mountainous. The vales
Rhone. between the several elevations are narrow, and have a soil poor and stony, except in that division on the rivers Saone and Rhone which includes some level tracts of greater extent, well cultivated, adorned with fine trees, and presenting a mixture of corn-fields, meadows, and vineyards. The chief rivers are the Rhone and the Saone, the latter of which falls into the former near Lyons, having received the water of the Izeron, the Garon, the Gier, with that of several smaller streams, which empty themselves at length into the Mediterranean Sea. Both the Rhone and the Saone are navigable through the whole of their course within this department. The climate is mild, but, from the vicinity of the mountains, is very variable, and from the same cause vegetation is late in the spring. The productions are, the common domestic animals, wax, honey, and abundance of game, wild fowl, and fish. The produce of corn is deficient for the annual supply by about six weeks' consumption. Hemp, flax, poppies, rapeseed, saffron, almonds, chestnuts, and potatoes, are extensively grown. The vine is extensively cultivated, and those on the banks of both the Saone and Rhone have, under a variety of names taken from the respective districts, acquired great celebrity. There are some, but not considerable, mines of copper, and others of vitriol and of coal. The manufacturing industry is great. The silk manufacture is the most extensive, and is chiefly carried on in and around the city of Lyons, the capital of the department.