RHIN

RHIN, BAS, a department of France, bounded on the N. by Rhenish Bavaria, E. by Baden, S. by the department of Haut-Rhin, and W. by those of Vosges, Meurthe, and Moselle: length, from S.E. to N.W., 68 miles; average breadth, 30 miles; area, 1914 square miles. It has a general slope from the Vosges Mountains, extending along the west of the department, to the Rhine, which washes its eastern border in a parallel direction. In the more elevated regions there are rugged and precipitous rocks, shaggy with forests, along with deep, romantic glens: in the lower tracts broad rich plains, with vine covered hills, and some marshes near the bank of the Rhine. In the former district the prevailing geological formations are limestone, sandstone, and gypsum; the latter is composed of tertiary deposits. The whole of the department is watered by affluents of the Rhine. The largest of these is the Ill, which flows northwards, from Haut-Rhin, nearly parallel to the main river; and after receiving from the Vosges in this department the Lieporelle, Scheer, Andlau, Eger, and Bruche, falls into the Rhine a short distance below Strasbourg. The Zorn, Moder, Surbach, and Lauter flow from the mountains immediately into the Rhine. Of these rivers, besides the Rhine, the Ill and the Moder are navigable. Among the mineral resources of the country are iron, coal, alum, slate, building-stone, and potters' clay. There are mineral springs at several places. The soil of the country is generally fertile, except the marshy ground along the Rhine and the barren tracts among the Vosges; and cultivation is well and extensively carried on. The winters are long and severe; in the summer, which comes on almost without any spring, sudden changes are not unfrequent; but the autumn is in general exceedingly fine. Corn, potatoes, pulse, beet-root, and hemp are the crops chiefly raised. Tobacco has been for a long time cultivated here. The vines, though reckoned inferior to those of Haut-Rhin, produce several excellent wines. There are in the department about 123,500 acres of corn land, 74,000 occupied by potatoes, 44,400 by vineyards, 158,000 by meadows, and 365,000 by forests. The meadows are favourable for the rearing of cattle, which are numerous and of a good breed. Pigs especially are bred in great quantities, and form an important article of commerce. It is estimated that there are 50,000 horses, 140,000 horned cattle, 76,000 sheep, and 90,000 pigs. Manufactures are extensively carried on: steel and cutlery, fire-arms, swords, bayonets, surgical instruments, woolen cloth, calico, leather, beer, and chemical substances, are among the articles produced. The trade is also considerable. Both the natural and the manufactured products of the country are sent to other parts of France, and to foreign lands; much of the timber being floated down the Rhine in large rafts, and sawn up in Holland. Communication is facilitated by three canals,—that between the Rhone and the Rhine, that between the Marne and the Rhine, and that of the Bruche, as well as by two railways,—from Paris to Strasbourg, and from Strasbourg to Basel. Bas-Rhin contains four law courts of the first instance, a tribunal of commerce, a lyceum, normal seminary, six colleges, and 1000 elementary schools. It belongs, along with Haut-Rhin, to the diocese of

Strasbourg, and to the sixth military division, containing seven fortified places. Its four arrondissements are as follows:—