a department in the northwest of France, comprising part of the ancient Brittany. It has some good pastures, but abounds in forests and heaths. Rennes is the chief town.

ILLINOIS, one of the United States of the North American republic. It is bounded by the Mississippi on the west, the Ohio on the south, the Wabash on the east, and by a line passing along the parallel of 41° 30' on the north. It contains about 58,000 square miles. The surface of the country is in general low and wooded, but fertile and well watered. The principal river entirely in the state is the Illinois, which rises near Lake Michigan, and after a course of 500 miles joins the Mississippi. The population in 1810 amounted only to 12,282; but it increased so rapidly, that in 1818 it was admitted into the union as an independent state.