The Pyrenees also send some secondary ramifications through the southwest. The highest summits of this great chain within the limits of France are from 9,000 to 11,000 ft. above the sea. In the Cevennes ridge, Mt. Mezin is 5,790 ft. high. The Reculet and the Dole tower over the ranges of the Jura to about 5,500 ft. Among the rounded summits of the Vosges, which are called "balloons," the only one deserving notice is the Ballon d'Alsace, in the southern part of this chain. The group of Auvergne presents the Puy de Dome, Mt. Dor or Dore, and the Plomb du Cantal, rising to a height of about 6,000 ft. The loftiest summit of the country (excluding Mt. Blanc, which since the annexation of Savoy is exactly on the Italian boundary, but cannot properly be considered as within French territory) is the Pointe des Ecrins in the Mont Pelvoux group of the Dauphiny Alps, which is about 13,500 ft. (according to other measurements, Mt. Olan).-The great W. slope of France is divided into three parts, one inclined toward the North sea, another toward the English channel, and the third toward the Atlantic. The first is drained by the Moselle, the Meuse, which flows in a northern direction between the E. and W. Ardennes, and the Scheldt (Escaut); the last two are properly Belgian. The Somme, the Seine, the Orne, the Vire, and the Rance flow into the English channel.

The Seine rises at St. Seina, at the foot of the Cote d'Or, runs in a N. W. direction, receives on its left the Yonne, and on its right the Aube, the Marne, and the Oise, and flows into the sea at Havre. The Atlantic receives the Aulne, the Blavet, the Vilaine, the Loire, the Sevre-Niortaise, the Charente, the Gironde, and the Adour. The Loire, which is the largest river and waters the most central part of the country, rises in the Cevennes, at Mt. Mezin, runs N. and N. TV. to Orleans, and thence S. TV. and TV. with a somewhat tortuous course to its mouths. It receives on the right the Nievre, and further down the Mayenne, which, after being joined by the Sarthe, assumes in its lower part the name of Maine; on the left the Allier, the Cher, the Indre, the Vienne swollen by the confluence of the Creuse, and the Sevre-Nan-taise. The Loire and its tributary streams, particularly those from the south, roll down immense quantities of gravel and sand, which, continually shifting, render the navigation difficult and dangerous. A great dike, called the "Levee of the Loire," the origin of which is lost in antiquity, bounds the course of the river on the right bank from Blois to Angers; this vast work is generally about 25 ft. high and 40 broad.

The Garonne, which has its source in the valley of Aran in Catalonia, follows one of the passes of the Pyrenees, flows N. E. until it reaches Toulouse, then turns N. TV. and becomes navigable; it receives on the right the Tarn and the Lot, passes Bordeaux, where it is half a mile wide, and meeting the Dor-dogne about 12 miles below this city, takes the name of Gironde, forms several islands, and broadening into an estuary empties into the sea. The navigation between Bordeaux and the sea is impeded by many shoals; the tide flows up about 80 m., and is sometimes preceded by a huge billow that sweeps destructively along the shore. This phenomenon is called the mascaret. The Adour, rising in the Pyrenees, has a semicircular course toward the bay of Biscay, into which it enters after receiving numerous mountain streams. The E. slope, which is inclined toward the Mediterranean, is enclosed between the Jura and the Alps on one side, the Cote d'Or and the Cevennes on the other. It is drained almost entirely by the Rhone and its branches. The Rhone, which, rising in Switzerland, enters France below Geneva, is not very wide, and runs generally with the impetuosity of a torrent. It joins the Saone at Lyons, and flows S. to the Mediterranean, discharging by several branches, forming a delta.

It is joined on the left by the Isere, the Drome, and the rapid Durance, which, like the Isere, rises in the Alps. The few lakes of France scarcely deserve the name; the largest is that of Grand Lieu, near the mouth of the Loire; the most picturesque are those of Gerardmer in the Vosges, and Nantua in the southern part of the Jura.-The geological outline of France is easily marked. A belt of granitic rocks running through the Vosges, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the peninsula of Brittany, forms a kind of basin in the centre of which a pile of the same formation rises. This constitutes the Auvergne mountains, which, being mostly composed of granite, gneiss, and micaceous schists, bear abundant traces of recent volcanic activity; extinct craters, lava streams, etc, present an interesting field for the observations of the geologist. The primary rocks at the circumference are of the greatest diversity, the granite however predominating at the extremity of the peninsula of Brittany. The intervals between the external belt and the central nucleus are mostly filled up by secondary formations, interspersed with tertiary deposits. Both are interesting.

The former, which are calcareous or marly and generally compact, contain a vast number of shells, madrepores, and other organic remains; stretching in long hill ranges, of little elevation, they run through Lorraine, Burgundy, Tranche - Comte, Dau-phiny, and Languedoc. Many are steep and bare, or covered only by a thin vegetable soil; but some, the hills of the Cote d'Or especially, are admirably suited for the vine. The most remarkable tract of tertiary formations is known as the "Paris basin;" a larger one covers nearly the whole of the valleys of the Garonne and the Adour, while several others of smaller extent are found in the valleys of the Loire and the Allier. These are mostly calcareous, enclosing great quantities of shells and the remains of fossil mammalia of large size. The district around the mouth of the Rhone is entirely alluvial.-The soil of France, taken as a whole, is of superior quality; and the productive part of it bears a larger proportion to the entire extent of the country than in most other European states. Of the entire soil only 7.5 per cent. is uncultivated or unproductive.