PYRENEES, LOWER, includes part of Navarre and the ancient principality of Béarn. The Pyrenees do not occupy one half of the department, and do not rise to a great elevation. The heights are crowned with forests, and the valleys are fruitful and well peopled. The Bidassoa bounds the department on the west, and determines the line which separates the kingdoms of France and Spain. Near the extremity of the heights that command the fruitful valley watered by the Gave, stands Pau, a town of some elegance, celebrated as the birthplace of many extraordinary persons, amongst whom may be mentioned Henry IV., Gaston de Foix, the celebrated Duke de Nemours, and Joan d'Albert. Further down the river stands Orthès, renowned as the scene of a destructive battle fought at the gates of the town in 1814, where the Duke of Wellington purchased a victory
Pyrites
Pyrometer.
over Marshal Soult with the loss of 10,000 men. Bayonne, a place of considerable trade, and a strongly fortified town, stands at the confluence of the Nive and Adour, about two miles from the Bay of Biscay. The department contains 379 geographical square miles, divided into five arrondissements, forty cantons, and 630 communes. The population in 1837 amounted to 244,170.