a town of France, capital of a cognominal arrondissement in the department of Lot, situated on the right bank of the Selle, 32 miles N.E. of Cahors. It is enclosed by an amphitheatre of wooded and vine-clad hills, but the town itself is ill built, and the streets are narrow and dirty. Many of the buildings are remarkable for their antique style. It was formerly surrounded by ramparts and ditches, but these were demolished in 1622, though remains of them still exist. Among the public edifices worthy of notice are the abbey church of St Sauveur, the church of Notre Dame du Puy, the Château de la Baleine. At the S. and W. extremities of the town are two obelisks called les aiguilles, octagonal in form, and upwards of 50 feet in height: they were used in former times as fire beacons to guide travellers by night. Champollion the archaeologist was born here in 1790, and an obelisk has been erected to his memory near the river. Pop. (1851) 7197.