5. In the fifth arrondissement the chief town Pontoise is situated on the right bank of the Oise, 13 miles from Paris by the railway to Amiens, and has 5370 inhabitants in the commune. It is a well-built old town, with narrow streets, and remains of an old castle, and inclosing walls. The town, which is named from the ' bridge over the Oise,' has a tribunal of first instance, a college, • public library, an agricultural society, a theatre, a wheel of mutual instruction, and several private schools. Steel ornaments, clocks and watches, mineral acids and other chemical preparations, cotton-yarn, and leather are manufactured; and trade is carried on in corn and flour for the supply of Paris, gypsum, and cattle. There is a great number of corn-mills on the Oise, or on the Vloene, a small stream which here joins the Oise. Among the other towns are Beaumont, on a high bill above the Oise, 12 miles N.E. from Puntelse, population 2000 : Genesse, the birthplace of I'hilippe Augusto, in a rich wheat district, in the esat of the department, population 2000: a station on the Paris-Amiens railroad, 7 miles N.E. from Pontolse, population 1700 : and M ant morenci, or En Aims, 10 miles by railway S.E. from Pontoise, population 2100, is on a hill commanding the picturesque and beauti ful valley of Montmorenci. The streets are steep, but there are good houses. The market-place is large but irregular, with a market-house in the middle. The parish church is a gothic building of the 16th century. Near the town is the Hermitage, a small house, celebrated as the retreat of Jean Jacques Rousseau, and of the musical composer Orstry, who died here in 1813, and is buried in a tomb in the garden. In the valley near the Lake of Montmorenci, or pond of St-Gratien, are mineral springs and baths.
6. In the sixth arrondissement the chief town is Evestess. Mil E. of Etampes, on the south-eastern border of the department, has a good corn-market, and above 2000 inhabitants.
The department constitutes the diocese of Versailles, and is under the jurisdiction of the High Court, and within the limits of the University-Academy of Paris. It is in the 1st Military Division, of which Paris is head-quarters. It sends 4 members to the Legislative Chamber of the French empire.
(Dictionnaire de la France; Annuaire pour i'An 1853 ; Annuaire du Commerce ; Official Papers.) SEINE-INFgRlEURE, a department of France, is bounded N. and N.W. by the British Channel ; S.W. by the department of Cal vados, from which it is separated by the Seine ; S. by the department of Eure, from which also it is in some places separated by the Seine ; S.E. by the department of Oise ; and N.E. by that of Somme. It lies between 49° 17' and 50° 4' N. lat ; 0° 5' and 1° 45' E. long. Its greatest length is 76 miles; its greatest breadth from north to south is about 45 miles. The area is 23321 square miles. The population in 1841 was 737,206; in 1851 it amounted to 762,039, giving 326'676 to the square mile, or above the average per square mile for the whole of France. The department is formed out of several districts of Nor
mandie, and named from its comprising a portion of the basin of the Lower Seine.
The department is almost entirely included in the district occupied by the cretaceous formations. The coast has a rounded outline, pre senting no remarkable headland except Cape la-Heve; it is lined nearly throughout 11 chalk cliff., broken at intervals by the openings through which the rivers fall into the sea : the only harbours along the coast are formed by these openings. The cliffs vary in height from 150 to 700 feet, which elevation they attain near Fdeamp. None of the bills ere very lofty : the principal are a remote branch from the Arden nes, which cross the department from the east aide to Cape la-lieve, which forme their termination, and separate the waters which flow into the Seine from those which flow into the English Channel ; they consist of chalk. Marl abounds in several places, and sand, which is used in the manufacture of glass. Brick-clay, pipe-clay, and clay suited for sugar-refiners, for making crucibles, earthenware, and fine porcelain, are procured; limestone and sandstone are also obtained, and there is marble of various kinds, but in small quantity. A small quantity of peat is obtained, and iron-stone is said to have been formerly procured near Forgetsles-Eaux, on the east side of the department, between Neufchatel and Oournay. There are mineral waters at Forges-les-Eaux, Antoile, Gournay, and Rouen.
The department, south of the range of hills mentioned above, belongs to the basin of the Seine, which first touches the department on the south side, and has the remainder of its winding course (07 miles by the river, and only 48 miles in a direct course) navigable throughout, upon or within the boundary of the department The principal feeders of the Seine aro the Epte and the Auden°, of which two only the sources and the upper part of their course belong to this depart ment, the Cailly, the Austreberte, the Bolbec, and the Ldzarde, all small streams which fall in on the right bank. Of the streams which flow into the Channel the principal are, proceeding from east to west, the Breele, which bounds the department on the east side, the 'fares, the Arques, which receives the Bdthune and the Eaulne, the Seye, or Scie, the Simone, and the Dnrdan. The length of the Bresle, which is the most considerable of them, may be estimated at 35 miles.
The department is traversed by the railroad from Paris to Rouen, where there are lines to Havre and Dieppe. A new line has been recently authorised from Rouen to Berney, where it joins the Paris Cherbourg line. Common roadway accommodation is afforded by 13 state roads, 28 departmental roads, and a great number of com munal roads.