Provinces. Departments. Capitals of Provinces and other Towns. Ile de France. S. part of Aisne, Oise, Paris; Laon, St. Quentin, Beauvais, Versailles, St. Denis, Champagne. Haut Marne. Lorraine. Melun. Aube,Ardennes, Marne, Troyes; Mezières, Se Meurthe, Meuse, Mo-Nancy; Bar-le-Duc, selle, Vosges. dan,Châlons, Rheims. Metz. Alsace. Haut Rhin, Bas Rhin. Strasbourg; Colmar, Mülhausen. SEVEN WESTERN. Bretagne. Ille et Vilaine, Finis- | Rennes ; Quimper, Brest, St. Brieux, Morbihan, Loire In- Vannes, Nantes. Le Mans; La Flèche, Angers; Saumur. Poitiers; Bourbon- Maritime portion of Rochelle; Rochefort. Charente. Angoulême. Inland portion of Cha- Saintes. Auvergne. Lyonnais. Rhône, Loire. Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal. Clermont; Aurillac. Lyons; Montbrison. FOUR BORDERING ON SWITZERLAND AND ITALY. Franche Comté Doubs, Haute Saône, | Besançon; Vesoul, Jura. Lons-le-Saulnier. Côte d'Or, Yonne, Dijon; Auxerre, Ma Burgundy. Saône et Loire, Ain. con, Bourg. 171. Colonies and Foreign Possessions.-The principal colo nies and foreign possessions of France are the islands of Mar tinique, Guadaloupe, and others, in the West Indies; Cayenne, and a portion of Guiana, in South America; Algeria, Senegal, and other territories on the west coast, in Africa; the island of Bourbon, in the Indian Ocean; the island of St. Mary, near Madagascar; Pondicherry, settlements on the coast of Coromandel, in Bengal, Malabar, and elsewhere, all in India. The little republic of Andorre, on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, is a sovereign state, under the protection of France and of the Bishop of Urgel. SECTION IV. SWITZERLAND. 172. Situation and Boundaries.-Switzerland is situated between 46° and 48° N. lat., and between 6° and 10° 35' E. long. Its greatest length is about 208 English miles; its greatest breadth 156 miles; its area more than 11,000 geographical miles. Population, 2,125,480. It lies on the northern slope of the Alps; and is bounded west by France, north by Germany, east by Austria, south by Italy. 173. General Description of the Country.Switzerland is very mountainous and romantic. Its inhabitants occupy the fertile valleys between the mountain ridges. The Alpine regions have been distributed into these seven:-the region of the vine, which commences in the valleys; of the oak; of the beech; of the fir; of grasses; of hardy plants, which ascends 8000 feet above the level of the sea; and, lastly, the region of glaciers and perpetual snow. These regions are greatly modified by the depth of the valleys. The glaciers-immense, restless masses of ice and frozen snow, deposited on slopes, and ever tending to descend, - are the most remarkable features in Swiss scenery: they form a broken sea of ice of more than 1000 square miles in extent. Huge falls of snow, termed avalanches, are frequent and tremendous: landslips are yet more destructive. Among the loftiest summits of the Swiss Alps are Mount Rosa, the Storm Peak, the Jungfrau, the Peak of Terror, the Great St. Bernard, Mount Simplon, and St. Gothard. The chain of Jura, unlike the Alps, is clothed with luxuriant pine forests. Switzerland is eminently the country of lakes: the principal are the Lakes of Constance, Zurich, Lucerne, Neufchatel, and Geneva. The Rhine and the Rhone are the chief rivers; both have several affluents. 174. Produce, Manufactures, and Commerce.-The mineral wealth of the mountains is but little known; there are a few iron mines in the Jura. Agriculture flourishes; the great natural obstacles which present themselves only serving to provoke the skill, industry, and perseverance of the inhabitants. The meadows are excellent. The chief produce is butter and cheese. The cantons of Zurich, Basle, Geneva, Neufchatel, Glarus, and Outer Appenzel are distinguished for their manufactures. The most industrious towns are Geneva, Basle, Zurich, St. Gall, Winterthur, Bern, Gersau, Herisau, Glarus, Chaux-de-fond, and Locle. The principal manufactures are those of watches and other fine and elegant articles, paper, arms, and gunpowder. Domestic manufactures, for local consumption, are very general. Bern, Zurich, and Lucerne are the three great marts of internal commerce. Basle, Geneva, and others, are the entrepôts of the foreign trade, which is flourishing. The transit trade is important. 175. Constitution and Government.-The constitution of Switzerland is a confederation of cantons; some of which are democratic, others aristocratic, and others representative repub lics. The present federal system was established in 1815. Switzerland has no fixed capital: Zurich, Bern, and Lucerne receive this honour, by rotation, for a period of two years each; and their burgomaster is, for the time being, the Landamman of Switzerland. A diet, consisting of deputies from all the cantons, directs the external affairs of the confederacy and the general expenditure. The debates of the diet are held in German; but French, Italian, and a dialect of Latin, called Romanesch, are also spoken in the several cantons. There are universities at Basle, Zurich, and Geneva. 176. Cantons.-Switzerland is divided into 22 cantons:Seven Northern: Basle, Aargau, Zurich, Scaffhausen, Thurgau, St. Gall, and Outer and Inner Appenzell. Three Western: Geneva, Vaud, and Neufchatel (now a principality of Prussia). Nine Central: Fribourg, Bern, Solothurn, Lucerne, Upper and Lower Unterwald, Uri, Zug, Schweitz, and Glarus. Three Southern: Valais, Grisons, and Tessin. SECTION V. BELGIUM. 177. Situation and Boundaries. Belgium is situated between 49° 27′ and 51° 31′ N. lat., and between 2° 37′ and 6° E. long. Its greatest length is about 195 English miles; its breadth about 127 English miles; its area upwards of 11,300 square miles. Population, 4,242,600. It is composed of the southern provinces of the late kingdom of the Netherlands. It lies between Holland and France; having Holland on the north, France on the south and west, the German Ocean also on the west, and the Rhenish provinces of Prussia on the east. No physical boundary separates it from France. |