a department of the south-west of France, formed out of the district of Sevaudan, a part of ancient Languedoc. It extends in north latitude from 44. 2. to 44. 59., and in east longitude from 2. 51. to 3. 50., containing 2134 square miles, or 509,543 hectares. It is bounded on the north by the departments of the Upper Loire and Cantal, on the east by the Ardèche, on the south by the Gard, and on the west by Aveyron. It comprehends twenty-four cantons, divided into 193 communes, and contains a population of 148,000 persons, of whom the Protestants, chiefly in the arrondissement of Florac, are between thirty and forty thousand. It is a lofty, cold, raw, and hard mountain district, the most sterile and the most thinly peopled of any part of France. In the fields are to be seen rocks of granite, or of chalk, scattered about as high as the houses, whilst in the south the whole seems to be slate covered with chalk. No river runs into the department, but several streams issue from it in different directions, and form rivers, such as the Lozère, the Lot, the Allier, and the Ardèche. The climate is raw and cold, but not unhealthy. Agriculture is ill conducted, and this, with the natural poverty of the soil, causes a necessity for the importation of annual quantities of corn. No other but rye and oats, with some little barley, is raised; and chestnuts, with potatoes, form substitutes for corn with the great mass of the people, who are as ill clad as they are poorly fed. In the summer the workmen wander into the more southern departments, and even into Spain, to gain a little by their work in time of harvest. The chief branch of industry was spinning, which all practised during their long winter; but that employment has diminished by the extension of machinery. Some serges, and other coarse woollens, are, however, still manufactured. Fuel is very scarce, the woods having been ruined by neglect; and no coal is extracted. The only mineral obtained is lead, but the quantity does not exceed forty tons; and this, with some wool, hides, and cattle, forms the chief trade. The department sends one deputy to the legislative chamber. The capital is the city of Mende.