a department of the south-west division of France, formed out of the ancient province of Upper Poitou. It extends in north latitude from 46° 8' to 49° 9', and longitude from 0° 7' east, to 0° 58' west. It is bounded on the north by the departments of Mayence and Indre Loire, on the east by the Indre and Loire, on the south by Upper Vienne and Charente, and on the west by the two Sévres. The extent is 2640 square miles. It is divided into five arrondissements, thirty-one cantons, and three hundred communes. It sends two deputies to the legislative chamber, and contained in 1836, 288,002 inhabitants. They all adhere to the Catholic church, except about 14,000 Calvinists, settled in and around Riom. The people adhere rigidly to their ancient manners and practices, and are reported to be enemies to all improvement, and to be careless, idle, and ignorant. They are chiefly agriculturists, and live, as their ancestors lived, in a state of great filth and destitution, on the half produce of the land; the other half being delivered to the landlord who pay out of it the territorial imposts.

The surface of the department is an elevated plain, uninterrupted by any remarkable hills or valleys. In some parts it is sandy, in others clayey, but in all of tolerable fertility, with the exception of about one-fourth, which is uncultivated heath land, but which might be made productive if capital could be found, and the ancient prejudices and customs were exchanged for the more modern usages. Most of these neglected wastes are situated in the eastern division of the department, on the arrondissements of Chatellerat and Montmorillon. The principal river, the Vienne, passes through the department, from north to south, about fifty-six miles, and is the only one that is navigable, and this only for a short distance, and with vessels of a small burden. It receives in its course the water of numerous small rivers. The climate is in general mild and temperate, but the north-west winds often bring early and sudden frosts which occasionally do great injury both to the corn lands and the vineyards.

The product of corn is insufficient for the consumption and potatoes, but especially chestnuts, are used as substitutes for grain. The quantity of wine produced is considerable, and some of it has the property of being improved by keep-

UPPER, a department in the north-west of France, formed out of the Upper Limousin, and the districts of La Marche and Poitou. It is situated in north latitude between 45° 26', and 46° 24', and in east longitude between 0° 33', and 1° 41'. It is bounded on the north by the departments of Vienne and of Indre, on the east by that of the Creuse, on the south by the Corrèze and the Dordogne, and on the west by the Charente. It is 2165 square miles in extent, divided into four arrondissements, those into twenty-seven cantons, containing 198 communes or parishes. It contained in 1836 a population of 30,011, all of whom adhere to the Catholic church. They are represented as indolent and uninstructed, but kind and charitable, as penurious, and yet hospitable. The institutions for instruction are few and very ill conducted. The face of the country consists of mountains, hills, deep chasms, narrow valleys, but presents no extensive plain. The mountains are of granite. The highest of them are in the south part of the frontiers of the department of the Creuse and the Corrèze, and decline gradually in height towards the departments of the Charente and the Vienne. The greatest height of any of them does not exceed 3000 feet. Rivers, which amount to thirty-eight in number, are rapid, and in their course have worn themselves deep beds in the granite or schistose hills. The principal are the Isère, 240 feet wide at Limoges, the Garonne, the Allier, the Vézère, the Gironde, and the Isère, none of which are navigable. There are some lakes, but none of great extent. The climate is damp, cold, and highly variable. The frost begins early, and ends late. The mean heat of the year at Limoges is from eight to nine degrees greater than in Paris, though it is three degrees south of that city. The appropriation of the soil is, according to the "Statistique de la France," 554,266 hectares, which is divided nearly in the following order—Ploughed land, 248,599 hectares; water meadows, 93,960; upland pasture, 47,516; 9870 commons, 2969 vineyards, 33,563 chestnut wood, 39,580 forests, 4300 gardens, 14,480 sites houses and roads, 2969 courses of rivers, dikes, and lakes, and 64,173 uncultivated heaths. Little alteration has taken place in agriculture during the last two hundred years, except by the introduction of potatoes. As the names speak a patois something like the Provençal, they have means of becoming acquainted with the improvements made in the other parts of France; and almost the whole is cultivated on the Metayer system. Frequent fallows are necessary, and with them very little wheat is raised; about the same quantity of buckwheat, and about eight times as much rye. The oats, barley, and maize do not together yield half as much grain as the wheat alone. The most beneficial husbandry is the breeding of cattle; these are sold for the markets in the large cities near it, and some even in Paris. The annual sale to other departments is about 10,000, and 15,000 oxen and cows. In the Viennois department, there are about 600,000 sheep of small size, and with coarse wool, but they are much annoyed by the wolves. One important product is the chestnut, of which more than a million quintals are annually harvested. They are used as a substitute for bread by the inhabitants, but some are sent to other districts. The forests have been much neglected, and now yield little timber for building, and but a scanty supply for fuel.

There are mines of antimony, tin, and iron, but the product of them is inconsiderable. There are some valuable clays adapted for making porcelain. The manufactures are mostly of the domestic kind, such as that of spinning flax, and weaving it into linen. Some woollen and cotton goods are made in the city of Limoges, the capital of the department.

an arrondissement of the department of the Isère, in the south-east of France. It is 699 square miles in extent, is divided into ten cantons, distributed in 132 communes, and contained 145,001 inhabitants in 1836. The chief city, bearing the same name, is built on the side of a hill on the left bank of the river Rhone, from which it rises like an amphitheatre. It consists of narrow and crooked streets, but has a fine promenade recently formed on the side of the stream. It has a cathedral of great beauty, several other churches, a museum, a theatre, and some extensive barracks. In 1836, it had a population of 16,484 persons, chiefly occupied in making paper, linen goods, iron and copper ware. It is one of the most ancient cities of France, and the capital of the ancient Gauls; and various relics of antiquity are from time to time discovered.