a department of France, formed out of the districts Valentinois and Divis, of the ancient principality of Dauphine. It is bounded on the north by the department of the Isère, on the east by that and the Upper Alps, on the south by the Lower Alps and Vaucluse, and on the west by the Ardèche, from which the Rhone separates it. The extent is 2722 square miles, or 692,750 hectares. The whole department consists of mountains, with valleys between, the entrances to which are commonly very narrow. The mountains increase in height on removing from the Rhone. At first they are sandy, then calcareous, and the highest of all are granite. Cultivation is in a languid state; the produce of corn is insufficient for the consumption, and 200,000 bushels are annually required from the surrounding districts to feed the population. They are enabled to obtain this in exchange for olives, almonds, nuts, silk, and hermitage wine, which the great heat of the summers brings to perfection under the shelter of the mountains. Much fuel also is collected, as one sixth of the land is covered with wood. Many sheep too are bred, but of an inferior race, producing a coarse wool. The manufacturing industry is confined to making some coarse woollen cloths, a few silk goods, and some domestic utensils for the supply of the inhabitants. The population amounts to 252,847 persons, of whom 34,500 are of the reformed church. None of them are rich or poor, but in moderate and nearly equal circumstances. It is divided into four arrondissements, twenty-eight cantons, and 360 communes. The capital is the city of Valence.