PYRENEES-ORIENTALES, a department in the south of France, lies between 42° 20' and 42° 55' N. let., 1° 44' and 3° 10' E. long. From east to west its greatest length is 75 miles; from north to south, 35 miles. The area is 1591'4 square miles. The population iu 1841 was 173,592; in 1851 it was 181,955, which gives 114'336 to the aquare mile, being 60'248 below the average per square mile for all France.
The department is formed out of the former district of Rousillon and portions of Cerdagne and Languedoc, and named from its position at the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees. It is bounded S. by the main ridge of the Pyrenees, except at ono or two points, where it encroaches on their southern slopes ; W. by the Val-d'Andorre and Ariege, from which last it is separated by an offshoot of the Pyrenees on the left bank of the Aube; N.W. and N. by the department of Aube, from which the Corbieres Mountains on the right bank of the Aube divide it ; and E. by the Mediterranean and the southern part of the shore-lake of Leucate. A plain of considerable width, and in general of great fertility, extcuds along tho coast, which, reckoning all its indentations, measures about 45 miles. The interior is traversed by two ranges of mountains, one of which springs from Mont-Canigou, the highest point in the department (9135 feet), and, curving from south to east, divides the basin of the Tech from that of the Tet; the other range runs from west to east, between the Tet and the Gly, into which last the Verdouble runs from the south-eastern slopes of the Corbieres. All these mountains are furrowed by numerous valleys and by streams that enter the principal rivers already named, which fall into the Mediterranean. A small portion in the west of the department is drained by the Aube, which flows out of the Pyrduees Orientalers by the defile between the Roe-Blanc and the Corhieres Mountains. On the southern slope of the Pyrenees, and not far from the sources of the Tech and the Aube, the Segre, a Spanish river, takes its rise. None of these rivers are navigable, but the waters of
most of them are turned to good account for fertilising the laud by means of an excellent and extensive system of irrigation, whereby, in the plain of Perpignan, the valleys of the Tet, the Tech, and the Gly, not less than 70,000 acres of land, are rendered exceedingly productive. Two canals, namely, those of Minas and Perpignan, date respectively from the years 1163 and 1172: the latter is nearly 20 miles long, with a mean breadth of 10 feet and a total fall of 300 feet.
The soil in the plains of the arrondissemeut of Perpignan consists of a layer of vegetable earth about a foot deep, resting on sand or gravel. By careful husbandry and by an extensive system of irrigation it is made to produce line crops of wheat, rye, black and white oats, maize, millet, barley, broad and haricot beans, flax, hemp, fruits, &c. The olive and the vine are extensively cultivated. The arrondissement of Ccret, drained by the Tech, is with little exception a cold mountainous country, cut up by narrow arid valleys; placed aboved the region of the vine, it produces only rye, oats, maize, chestnuts, and pulse. The arrondissement of Prades, also very moun tainous, is diversified by several ranges of vine-clad hills, and by valleys inferior neither in soil nor cultivation to the plain of Perpignan, which it also resembles in its products. The corn produce of the department exceeds the consumption. Of wine about 7,000,000 gallons are made annually. The red wines of Rousillon are in general of excellent quality, agreeable taste, strong body, and well adapted for transport; they are used for giving colour and body to the lighter growths of Callers and Auvergne. The wines of Collioure and Port Vendres have the highest repute; they become of a golden hue with age ; in this state they take the name of Rancid de Rousillon. The sweet wines of Itivesaltes bold the fact rank among the dessert wines of France.