Poultry and fish are abundant ; game has become rare. Bees are kept in some places. The streams and pools abound with fish, espe cially the trout, eel, carp, pike, and perch; the tench, barbel, roach, gudgeon, and bleak are taken, the last for its scales, which are used in the manufacture of imitation pearls. Leeches are obtained in some places.
The department is divided into six arrondissements, which, with their subdivisions and population, are as follows :— 1. Of the first arrondissement, and of the whole department, the chief town is which is united to Paris by two railways.
Among the other towns are—Argenteuil, on a hill above the Seine, 12 miles N.N.E. from Versailles : population, 4377. St.-Germain-en Laye. [Gensis.rx-ex-LATEJ Meulan, a station on the Paris-Rouen railway, 19 miles N. by W. from Versailles : population, 2000. Poisry, a station on the Paris-Rouen railway, 10 miles N. from Versailles, on the left bank of the Seine, with a large cattle and sheep market and 4000 inhabitants. Reel, or Rueil, a pretty town, 5 miles N.N.E. from Versailles, with a population of 7284 in the commune, and a handsome church, which contains the tomb of the empress Josephine, whose residence, Malmaison, stands between the town and the Seine. St.-Cyr, a small place of 1800 inhabitants, 3 miles W. from Ver milion, and on the railway to Chartres, is famous for its special military school. [ern, Sr.] 'Saves, built at the foot of a hill, above the left bank of the Seine, 5 miles E. from Versailles by railway, is celebrated for its porcelain manufactures : population about 5000. .St.-Cloud. [Ctourn, Sr.] Meedon, on the high ground above Slimes, and a station on the Paris-Versailles railway ; population of the commune, 3174. Besides the imperial palaces of St-Cloud and Versailles, there are many châteaux, parks and beautiful country residences in this arrondissement. At afarig, near Rueil, are the aqueduct and immense forcing machinery for raising the water that supplies the magnificent water-works of the park of Versailles.
2. In the second arrondissement the chief town is ilantes, which stands on the left bank of the Seine, 34 miles by railway W.N.W. from Paris, and has an ecclesiastical school, three hospitals, several tan-yards, breweries, and flour-mills, and a population of about 6000, including the suburb of Limay, on the right bank of the river. Among the other towns are Ikeda*, 16 miles S. from Mantes, on the road from Versailles to I)reux, population 2000: and Rosny, a village on the left bank of the Seine, 4 miles S.W. from Mantes, on the Paris-Rouen railway, population about 700. The Seine opposite
Rosily contains several islands, in one of which is the.chateau in which Sully was born, and to which he and Henri IV. retired after the battle of Ivry. At Ronny is the junction of the Cherbourg rail way with the Paris-Rouen line. On the right bank of the Seine, below Ronny, are the ruins of the castle of Roche-Guyon, from which there are beautiful views of the valley of the Seine.
3. In the third arrondissement the chief town, Rambouillet, is situated on the railway to Chartres, 30 miles W. from Paris, 18 miles S.W. from Versailles, and has a tribunal of first instance and 3257 inhabitants. It is a clean well-built town. Iu the palace of Ram bonillet, which stands in • fine park and gardens laid out by Le Natre, Francis I. died in 1547. The Forest of Rambouillet is traversed In all directions by fine roads. Charles X., in his flight from Paris in 1830, took refuge for • short space at Rambouillet Among the other towns are Dourdan, 12 miles S. by E. from Rambonillet, in the valley of the Orge, and near the forest of Dourdan, population 2400: and Mentfort-rA 'nosey, an ancient place with only 1800 inhabitants, 9 miles N. from Itambouillet, remarkable for the ruins of its ancient castle, the seat of the ancestors and descendants of Simon de Mont fort. The ruins have been cleared of rubbish and planted with trees, so as to form shady promenades. Of the cantle of Dourdan, which, with its domain, formerly belonged to the Bourbons, there remain the keep and eight other towers, united by a curtain flanked with bastions and girt by wide deep ditches.
4. In the fourth arrondissement the chief town, Corbeil, is situated 18 miles by railway S. from Paris, on the left bank of the Seine, at the mouth of the Essonne, and has • corn-market, large flonr-mills, and manufactures of Cashmere shawls, cotton stare, pottery, &c. : population of the commune, 4645. A bridge across the Seine connects the town with Corbiel- Vieux, on the right bank. Among the other places of note are A rpajon, formerly called Claire:, a pretty town of 2234 inhabitants, surrounded by fine shady walks, 10 miles W. from Corbel] : Deanne., one mile V. from Corbeil, population 3800: Longjuineau, a pretty village on the Orldans reed, population 2000 : and Mona Miry, an ancient well-built walled village, between Longju meau sod Chatrea, population 1700. There was formerly a very strong castle at Mpnt-l'H6ry, of which the keep, 103 feet high, still remains. Louis XI. was defeated by Charles of Burgundy in • bloody battle fought near Mont-Illdry in 1465.