HAUTES ALPES, a department in south-east France, formed in 1790 out of the south-eastern portion of the old prov ince of Dauphine, together with a small part of north Provence. It is bounded north by the department of Savoie, east by Italy and south and south-east by the department of the Basses Alpes, south by the last-named department, and west by the depart ments of the Drome and of the Isere. Its area is 2,178 sq.m. Pop. (1931) 87,566. It is very mountainous and includes the Pelvoux mass of Primary rocks rising to a height of 12,973 ft. in the north, the high line of the Cothian alps 12,609 ft. in the east, and the Papillon mountains of Mesozoic rocks in the south. The department consists of the basins of the upper Durance (with tributaries, Guisane, Gyronde and Guil), of the upper Drac, leading to Grenoble, and of the Buech. The department is divided into two arrondissements (Gap and Briancon), 24 cantons and 186 communes. Pop. (1931) 87,566. There are no large indus tries and commerce is almost wholly local. The prolonged winter greatly hinders agricultural development, while the pastoral region has been greatly damaged and forests destroyed by the ravages of Provencal sheep, vast flocks of which are driven up here in the summer, as the pastures are leased out to a large extent, and but little utilized by the inhabitants. It now forms the diocese of Gap (this see is first certainly mentioned in the 6th century) in the ecclesiastical province of Aix en Provence; in 1791 there was annexed to it the archiepiscopal see of Embrun, which was then suppressed. There are 114 m. of railway in the department. This includes the main line from Briancon past Gap towards Grenoble. About 16z m. west of Gap is the important railway junction of Veynes, whence branch off lines to Grenoble, to Valence by Die and Livron, and to Sisteron for Marseilles. The chief town is Gap; Briancon and Embrun are the other towns.
a department of eastern France, formed in I 790 from the northern part of Franche Comte. It is traversed by the river Saone, bounded north by the department of the Vosges, east by the territory of Belfort and the department of Haut-Rhin, south by Doubs and Jura and west by Cote-d'Or and Haute-Marne. Pop. (1931) 219, 2 5 7 ; area, 2,075 square miles. The department is the upper basin of the Saone from the Ballon de Servance (3,97o ft.) in the north-east to its confluence with the Ognon in the south-west, and it also includes the right side of the lower Ognon valley extending over to the left side in the upper part of that valley towards Belfort. The sandstones and granite of the southern Vosges give place to limestones framing the two valleys at a level of 800-1,000 ft., and the water that soaks through these limestones emerges as springs feeding the streams in the valleys 200 ft. lower down. The north-eastern districts are cold, due in part to the coldness of the soil, and have an annual rainfall ranging from 36 to 48 inches. Towards the south-west the climate becomes more temperate. At Vesoul and Gray the rainfall reaches only 24 in. per annum.
Half of the area of Haute-Saone is arable land, growing wheat, oats, meslin and rye and potatoes. The vine flourishes mainly in the arrondissement of Gray; tobacco is grown. Apples, plums and cherries (from which the kirsch, for which the department is famous, is distilled) are the chief fruits. The woods which cover a quarter of the department are composed mainly of firs in the Vosges and of oak, beech, hornbeam and aspen elsewhere. Horses and horned cattle thrive on the river pastures. Mines of coal (at Ronchamp) and rock-salt (at Gouhenans), and stone quarries are worked. The hot springs of Luxeuil (q.v.) are the most famous of the department. There are iron-working establish ments, copper-foundries, engineering works, steel-foundries and factories at Plancher-les-Mines and elsewhere for producing iron mongery, nails, pins, files, saws, screws, shot, chains, agricultural implements, locks, spinning machinery, edge tools, glass-works, potteries and brick and tile-works, cotton factories, of which Hericourt (pop. in 1931, 5,811) is the chief centre, paper-mills, print-works, fulling mills, hosiery factories and straw-hat fac tories, as well as sugar works, distilleries, dye-works, saw-mills, starch-works, the chemical works at Gouhenans, oil-mills, tan yards and flour-mills. The department exports wheat, cattle, cheese, butter, iron, cotton-cloth, wood, pottery, kirschwasser, plaster, leather, glass, etc. The Saone provides a navigable channel of about 7o m., which is connected with the Moselle and the Meuse at Corre by the Canal de l'Est along the valley of the Coney. Gray is the chief emporium of the water-borne trade of the Saone. Haute-Saone is served chiefly by the Eastern railway. There are two arrondissements—Vesoul and Lure—comprising 28 cantons, 583 communes, Haute-Saone is in the district of the VII. army corps (Besancon), and in its legal, ecclesiastical and educational relations depends on Besancon.
Vesoul, the capital of the department, Gray, Lure and Luxeuil are the principal towns. The Roman ruins and mosaics which may be seen at Membrey, and the church (13th and 15th centuries) and abbey buildings in and around Faverney (loth, 13th and i4th centuries), in the arrondissement of Vesoul, are of anti quarian interest.
a frontier department of France, formed in 186o of the old provinces of the Genevois, the Chablais and the Faucigny, previously the northern portion of the duchy of Savoy neutralised in 1815. It is bounded N. by the canton and Lake of Geneva, E. by the Swiss canton of the Valais, S. by Italy and the department of Savoie, and W. by the department of the Ain. Pop. 252,794. Area, 1,775 sq.m. It slopes from the Mont Blanc (15,782 ft.) chain on the south-east down to the lake and canton of Geneva and the Rhone (945 ft.) on the west. It is drained by many streams, the chief of which are the Arve and the Fier, feeders of the Rhone ; the Fier forms the lake of Annecy. The climate varies considerably with the altitude; the maximum rainfall is in May and June. The tourist industry is highly important, especially at Chamonix. Cattle and poultry are reared, and Gruyere cheeses and honey are made. There are chalybeate springs at Evian and Amphion, and at St. Gervais and elsewhere. Anthracite and asphalt mines are numerous, as well as stone quarries. There is much trade in pine and other wood from mountain forests. Cotton is manufactured at Annecy, Cluses is the centre of the clock-making industry, and there is a well known bell foundry at Annecy le Vieux. The department :s divided into three arrondissements (Annecy, the principal town, Bonneville and Thonon), 28 cantons and 315 communes. It forms the diocese of Annecy in the province of Chambery, is in the district of the XIV. army corps (Lyons) and in the Academie (educational division) of Chambery, where is its court of appeal. Thonon (the old capital of the Chablais) is the chief town on the south shore of the Lake of Geneva and, after Annecy, the largest place in the department.
a department of south-western France, on the Spanish frontier, formed in 179o, half of it being taken from Bigorre and the remainder from Armagnac, Nebouzan, Astarac and Quatre Vallees, districts of the province of Gascony. Pop. (1931) 189.993. Area, 1,75o sq.m. Hautes-Pyrenees is bounded south by Spain, west by the department of Basses Pyrenees, north by Gers and east by Haute-Garonne. The south of the department, comprising two-thirds of its area, is occupied by the central Pyrenees composed of palaeozoic rocks with meso zoic rocks on the northward facing slopes. The ancient volcanic rocks stand out as the highest peaks, some exceeding 1o,000 ft., the Vignemale (10,8 20 ft.) being the highest in the French Pyre nees. The imposing cirques (Cirques de Troumouse, Gavarnie and Estaube), with glaciers and waterfalls, and the pleasant valleys attract many tourists. The north of the department has plains and undulating hills clothed with cornfields, vineyards and meadows. To the north-east, the cold and wind-swept plateau of Lan nemezan (about 2,000 ft.) with miocene and glacial deposits, presents a striking contrast to the plain below. The Adour and its tributary, the Gave de Pau, and the Neste, an affluent of the Garonne, drain the department. The sources of the second and third lie close together in the Cirque of Gavarnie. An important section of the Pyrenees, which carries the Massif Neouvielle and the Pic du Midi de Bigorre runs northward be tween these two valleys. The Adour descends from the Pic du Midi through the Campan valley and leaves the mountains at Bagneres and then divides into a multitude of channels, notably the Canal d'Alaric (36 m. long), to irrigate the rich plain of Tarbes. Beyond Hautes-Pyrenees it receives the Arros, which flows through the department from south to north-north-west; on the left it receives the Gave de Pau; it is navigable in the lower stretches. The Gave de Pau, larger than the upper Adour, after passing Argeles, a well-known centre for excursions, and Lourdes, leaves the mountains. The Neste is important as fur nishing the plateau of Lannemezan with a canal, the Canal de la Neste, the waters of which are partly used for irrigation and partly for supplying the streams that rise there and are dried up in summer—the Gers and the Baise, affluents of the Garonne. The climate of Hautes-Pyrenees, cold on the highlands, gives on the plains, hot summers, fine autumns, mild winters and rainy springs. On the plateau of Lannemezan, summers are dry and scorching, winters very severe. The average annual rainfall at Tarbes, in the north, is about 34 in. ; at the higher altitudes it is much greater. The mean annual temperature at Tarbes is 59° Fahr.
Hautes-Pyrenees is agricultural in the plains, pastoral in the highlands. The more important cereals are wheat and maize, chiefly in the Adour valley, and the northern part of the depart ment, which is much used for the feeding of pigs and poultry, es pecially geese ; rye, oats and barley are grown in the mountain districts. The wines of Madiran and Peyriguere are well known and chestnut trees and fruit trees are grown on the lower slopes. Horse breeding is important around Tarbes and Bagneres-de Bigorre and there is a famous stud at Tarbes. The horse of the re gion has Arab, English and Navarrese blood and is well fitted for saddle and harness. Cattle raising is important ; the milch-cows of Lourdes and the oxen of Tarbes and the valley of the Aure are highly esteemed. Sheep and goats are also reared. The forests, which occur chiefly in the highlands are mainly coniferous and still contain wild animals (bears, wolves, etc.). There are at Campan and Sarrancolin quarries of fine marble, which is sawn and worked at Bagneres. There is a group of slate quarries at Labassere and an important slate works at Tarbes. Deposits of lignite, lead, manganese and zinc are found. The principal mineral springs in the valley of the Gave de Pau are Cauterets (hot springs contain ing sulphur and sodium), St. Sauveur (springs with sulphur and sodium), and Bareges (hot springs with sulphur and sodium), and in the valley of the Adour Bagneres (hot or cold springs contain ing calcium sulphates, iron, sulphur and sodium) and Capvern near Lannemezan (springs containing calcium sulphates).
The department has flour-mills and saw-mills, a large military arsenal at Tarbes, paper-mills, tanneries and manufactories of agricultural implements and looms. The spinning and weaving of wool are carried on chiefly at Bagneres-de-Bigorre.
Of the passes (ports) into Spain, even the chief, Gavarnie (7,398 ft.), is not accessible to carriages. The Southern railway main line from Bayonne to Toulouse, traverses the department. There are two arrondissements, those of Tarbes and Bagneres de-Bigorre, 26 cantons and 48o communes. Tarbes is the capital of Haute-Pyrenees, which is attached to the appeal court of Pau and forms part of the region of the XVIII. army corps (Bordeaux). There are bishops at Tarbes and Lourdes, under the archbishop of Auch. The department is in the academie (educa tional division) of Toulouse. Tarbes, Lourdes, Bagneres-de Bigorre and Luz-St. Sauveur are the principal towns. St. Savin, in the valley of the Gave de Pau, and Sarrancolin have interesting Romanesque churches. The church of Maubourguet was built by the Templars in the 12th century.