a department of France, formed out of the ancient country of La Marche, and of a small part of Lower Auvergne. It is bounded on the north by the departments of the Indre and Cher, on the east by those of the Allier and Puy-de-Dôme, on the south by Corrèze, and on the west by Upper Vienne. Its extent is 2332 square miles, or 590,250 hectares, according to the Almanac Royal. The surface is generally level, with but few elevations, which are mostly in the south and west, and gradually disappear in advancing to the east and the north. The soil is generally of little fertility; and being elevated, there are to be found in this department the sources of many small rivers and rivulets, whose waters fertilize the surrounding districts, but none of whose streams enter the department of the Creuse. The winter begins early and continues long. The vegetable products are corn, chiefly buck-wheat and rye, but little wheat, potatoes, hemp, fruit, especially chestnuts, and acorns. There is no surplus of food. Some cattle are bred, but chiefly fattened in other districts. The inhabitants are a hardy race, scarcely speaking any other language but a Languedoc patois, and wandering through the other parts of the kingdom in search of employment. The agriculture is in a backward state, both as regards the practices and the implements. Manufacturing is also at a low ebb, only yielding a few coarse necessaries of clothing and furniture. The population amounts to 238,774 persons, of whom it is said more than 40,000 spend their summers in working in the other departments, and bring back towards the end of the summer upwards of 120,000 francs. The capital is Gueret.