Iron- and coal-mines are worked, but not to any very great extent. The ore and coal need in the iron-worka are mined on the spot. Other mineral productions are marble, quartz, rock-crystal, limestone, and pipe- and potters'-elly.
The industrial products of the department are common woollen cloth, linen, hosiery of all kinds, velveteen, lace, soap, &Wog-net., beetroot auger, cotton and flaxen yarn, oil, salt, gin, grain and potato spirit., furniture and cabinet work, glass, earthenware, &e. Beside. the numerous establiehments for the manufacture of these articles, there era also 1578 wind- and water.mills, several bleach-works, 74 beetroot anger factories,. marbleinseing works, tan- and fulling Turns, and tan-yards. The coasting trade in corn, eggs, butter, node, oil, flax, hides, &c. is active. Steam-boats ply regularly from London, Dover, and Folkston', to Calais and Boulogne.
The forests of this department are small, and chiefly confined tc the arrondissement. of St.-Omer and Montreal]. Consequently coal Ls generally used for fuel, and has to be imported from Belgium and the department of Nord ; for the quantity of coal raised does little more than suffice for the iron-works.
1. Of the first arrondissement and of the whole de partment, the thief town is Aanas. Bapaume, situated near tho source of the iensee, 15 miles S. by E. from Arras, is a well-built fortified town, with 3210 inhabitants, who manufacture lawn, muslin, calico, thread, leap, and leather. Tho town has salt-refineries, and is supplied with ixcellent water from a fountain, which is fed by an artesian well. Vitry, on the Paris-Brussels railroad, 10 miles E. from Arras, ou the icarpe, is a village with 2303 inhabitants.
2. Tho second arrondissement takes its name from Bethune, a 'ortified town with a tribunal of first instance, a college, and 7158 inhabitants in the commune. The town, situated on a rock above the Brette, 18 milers N. by W. from Arras, is pretty well built, and pos sesses a large square, the centre of which is occupied by an old tower of odd construction. The town-hall, which stands on one side of this square, and the principal church, remarkable for the light elegance of its nave, aro the only remarkable buildings. Bethune has a public library; manufactures of soap, oil, lawn, and woollen cloth ; salt refineries, beetroot-sugar factories, tan-yards, and a gin distillery. The trade of the town in its industrial products and in corn, wine, brandy, oleaginous seeds, cheese, pottery, &c., is much facilitated by the Lawe and Bassets canals, which here meet in a common basin. The first artesian wells wore bored in Bethune and its neighbourhood.
3. The third arrondissement takes its name from its chief town St-Omer. [Omaa, Sr.] Aire, a tolerably well-built town with a college, end 9591 Inhabitants, is situated 9 miles S. by E. from St.-Omer, at
tho confluence of the Laquotte with the Lys, and at the junction of the St.-Omer and Bass6e canals, by means of which it communicates with the An and the Deule. The town is surrounded with ramparts and deep ditches; it has barracks largo enough to accommodate 6000 men; a townhouse; several handsome fountains ; and two finis churches. Hats, soap, oil, basket-work, grain spirits, glazed paving tiles, &c. are manufactured. Ardrrs, is a small fortified town with 2198 inhabitants,17 miles by railway N.W. from St.-Omer, and 74 miles S. by E. from Calais. A regiment of cavalry lies in the town ; tho barracks, stables, and riding-houee are the most noteworthy objects. Le-Champ-du-Dmp d'Or, or the Field of the Cloth of Gold, tho scene of the famous interviews between Henry VIII. and Francois I., lies between this town and Gaines.
4. In the fourth arrondissement the chief town, is situated 20 miles N.W. from Arras, at the intersection of seven high roads, and at the head of a vale watered by the Ternoise, a feeder of the Canche. This town was formerly the capital of the county of St.-Pol, and was fortified : of its defences, and of the castle of the counts of St.-Pol, there are still some remains. It is an irregularly-built place, and has a college and 3246 inhabitants in the commune.
5. Of the fifth arrondissement the chief town is BOCLOONE. The district which now forme the arrondissement of Boulogne comprises the former county of Boulonnais. The Boulonnais was governed from the 10th century by counts who were great vassals of the crown. Tho last count, do la Tour d'Auvergne, was dispossessed by Philippe, duke of Bourgogne, to whom the county was ceded by Charles VIII. Louis XI. took possession of it in 1477. The English held the northern part of it a long time ; when the French regained this portion they called it Pays Reconquis. The other towns aro :— Catssis : Gaines, which stands in a marshy country, 5 miles S. from Calais, and on the canal from St.-Omer to Calais, has 4097 inhabitants, who trade in core, linen, cattle, poultry, fire-wood, turf, and charcoal, and who manufacture tulle, pottery, leather, salt, &c. ./Ifarquise, which is situated 8 miles N.E. from Boulogne, on the road to Calais, on the Slack, and has 2108 inhabitants : a largo suburb of Calais, which is traversed by the railway to Lille, has 9000 inhabitant', engaged chiefly in the cotton manufactures, and in the manufacture of buttons, hats, beetroot-sugar, salt, and leather : and &niter, which is built on a hill 4 miles S.E. from Boulogne, on the high road to Montreal), and has a population of 2195. Berner is famous for the remains of an abbey founded about the middle of the 7th century.