an arrondissement in the department of the Aube, in France. It is 365 square miles in extent, contains 30,600 inhabitants, and is divided into four cantons, which are subdivided into sixty-nine communes. The capital is the city of the same name, situated on the left bank of the Seine. It contains 750 houses, and 3400 inhabitants, who make some cotton goods and hosiery, but whose chief trade consists in sending wood to Paris. Long. 3. 55. E. Lat. 48. 5. N.

NOIRMOUTIER, an island belonging to the department of La Vendée, and arrondissement of Les Sables d'Olonne, in France. It forms a canton, and is on the western side of the island of Bouin. It is about fifteen miles in length, and about four in breadth. Its situation is low, and, to prevent the sea from overflowing it, it is surrounded with powerful dikes. The soil is very rich within the enclosure, and produces heavy crops of corn. Beyond the dikes are marshes, which afford abundance of salt formed by natural evaporation. The inhabitants are 5700, and many of them expert seamen, occupied in the fisheries. The chief town gives its name to the island; it contains 1600 inhabitants, and has a harbour capable of admitting vessels of fifty or sixty tons. Long. 2. 21. W. Lat. 47. 1. N.