CHARENTE-INFERIEURE

CHARENTE-INFERIEURE, or Lower Charente, a maritime department of France, comprehending the old provinces of Saintonge and Aunis, and including the islands of Ré, Oleron, Aix, and Madame. It is bounded N. by Vendée and Deux-Sèvres; E. by Charente; S. by Gironde, and W. by the Bay of Biscay. Area 2757 square miles. The surface is exceedingly flat throughout the whole department, and along the coast-line it is so far depressed as to require in many places the erection of sea-dikes and extensive artificial draining. Its facilities for internal communication are greatly increased by the number of navigable streams, and the formation of two canals, one from La Rochelle to the Sèvre Niortaise, the other from Brouage to Rochefort. The productions very nearly coincide with those of Charente, with this difference—that its wines and brandy are greatly inferior, but its fruits and vegetables greatly superior to those of the upper province. It has also more extensive pasturage, and considerable revenue accruing from the pilchard and oyster fisheries on the coast, but its mineral wealth and manufactures are neither so various nor so productive. The former is confined to the salt supplied by marshes along the coast; the latter includes coarse woollen stuffs, leather, soap, earthenware, staves, and timber. It has several sheltered bays on the coast, and several good harbours, at which a brisk coasting trade is carried on. It has considerable trade in colonial produce; and shipbuilding is prosecuted to some extent. The climate is salubrious, except along the coast, where fevers and ague prevail. It is divided into six arrondissements, cognominal with the principal towns, which are subdivided and peopled as follows:—