Franc avilla, a town of Naples, in Terra di
Otranto, with a trade in oil, cotton stockings, and
snuff, 15 m. E. N. E. of Taranto.

Francavilla, a town of Naples, in Basilicata, on
the river Sino, 20 m. W. S. W. of Trusi.

France, a country of Europe, extending in its
extreme limits from the village of Peats de Mello,
at the foot of the Eastern Pyrenees, in the lat. of

42. 25., in nearly a perpendicular line to Dun-
kirk, in the lat. of 51. 2. N.; this line gives a
distance of 517 geographical, 593 British statute
m.; the most important extreme point on the W.
is Brest, in the long, of 4. 29. W., and 48. 23. of
N. lat., and on the E. Strasburg in the long, of
7. 45. E. and lat. of 48.35. ; the distance between
those two points is 12. 14. of W⁷. long., which in
the mean lat. of 48. 29. is equal to 490 geographi-
cal, or 578 British statute m., but a line exceed-
ing this by about 40 m. might be drawn in this
direction within the French territory, from Point
Ras, 28 m. S. of Brest, to the extreme eastern
imit, 45 m. S. byE. of Strasburg; the mean
lint, however, from N. to S. does not exceed 470,
aad from W.to E. 420 British statute m. This limit
gives a superficies of 197,400 sq. m., equal to

126,336,000 British statute acres ; a report made
to the French government in 1817 computed
the superficies to be equal to 128 millions of
acres, of which about 92 millions were in a state
. of cultivation, aad about 36 millions of acres
repcrtel as unproductive, and unfit for cultivation.

This fine territory is eounded from Dunkirk to
the Rhine, in the lat. of 59. N. a distance of 290
m. in a direction E. S. E. of Netherlands and
the Prussian provinces of the Rhine ; about .100
m. of this frontier nearest to Dunkirk is an open
plain without any natural barrier; further S. the
inroad is more or less impeded by forests. From
the lat. of 49. the Rhine in a direction S. by W.
for about 110 m. divides France from the territory
ofthe grand duke of Baden; from the lat. of 47.
40. to 43. 42. it is divided from Switzerland,
Savoy, and Piedmont, by collateral ridges of the
Alpine mountains ; the S. E. extremity is bounded
by the little river Var which divides France from
the county of Nice The meridional distance
from this point to the eastern extremity of the
Pvrenees is 220 statute m., but the indentations
of the Mediterranean sea, give an extent of sea-
coasi on that side of France, near to, if not ex-
ceeding 309 m. The Pyrenean mountains in a
direction W. hv N. for 250 m. next form the
southern boundary of France, dividing it from the
Iberian xc2xa9eninsula of Spain and Portugal; the
little river Bidassoa forms the boundary at the S.
W. er&emitv. and W. from the mouth of this
river in the lat. of 43. 22. and 1. 47. of W. long,
to the iste of Ushant, in the lat. of 48. 28. and 5.
3. of W. Ion? France is bounded by the Atlantic
Ocean : xc2xaend^r N. W. from the Isle of Ushant to
Dunkirk hr th? English channel. The meridional
distance from the Bidissca to Ushant is 390 m., and
from Ushant to Dunkirk 380 m., but the indenta-
tions of the seas will give about 500 m. of coast
on each side of th? isle of Ushant, and with the
S. E. boundarr on the Mediterranean an aggre*-
gate extent of sea-coast of about 1,300 m., and
a circumference of about 2.200 m. The sea-ports
are Dunkirk, Calais. Boulogne. Dieppe, Fecamp,
Havre, Caen, Cherburgh. St. Maloand Morlaix,on
the coast of the English channel: Brest, Quimper,
L’ Orient, Nantes, Rochelle,Rochefort, Bordeaux,
and Bayonne, on the coast ofthe Bay of Biscay
or Atlantic Ocean, and Marseilles and Toulon
in the Mediterranean; Cherburgii, Brest, Roche
fort, and Toulon are the chief stations of thxc2xab
French national marine.

Evety part of France is intersected by rivers
flowing in all directions. Taking them in Geo-
graphical order from the N. the first entitle? to
notice are the Moselle and the Meuse, both of
which rise in the N. E. part of France, and take
circuitous courses northerly into the Netherlands,
the former falling into the Rhine, and the latter
into the N. Sea. The Somme is an inconsidera-
ble river running W. N. AV. into the English
channel. The next in order and importance is
the Seine which also runs in a W. N. W. direc-
tion into the English channel, being joined in
its course by the Marne, Aube, and the Oise, on
the N., and by the Yonne and the Eure on the S.
The Orne, and two or three other rivers of inferior
note also fall into the English channel. The no-
blest river in all France is the Loire, which rises
in the S. and flows in a direction N. by W. for
about 250 m., when it takes a direction nearly
due W. for about 250 m. more, falling into the
Atlantic Ocean. It receives in its course numer-
ous tributary streams, the most considerable of
which, are the Allier, running parallel with it
from the S. for about 180 m., and the Cher, Indre,
Creuce, A^Tienne, and Sevre, all from the S., and
from the N. it receives the Lower Loire, Sarthe,
Mayenne, and a few others of a smaller size. In
the S. the united streams of the Lot, the Tarn,
and Garonne, with several others of inferior note,
form the Gironde which falls into the Bay of
Biscay, being joined from the E. below Bordeaux
by the Dordogne and Ule. Between the Loire
and the Gironde the Charente, and between the
Gironde and the Pyrenees the Adour, each
with numerous tributary streams also fall into the
Bay of Biscay. The Rhone rising near Mount
St. Gothard in Switzerland, after forming the
lake of Geneva it enters France on the S. E., and
after a course of about 80 m. to Lyons, hrst S.
and then W. it takes a course nearly due S. from
Lyons, for about 150 m. falling into the Mediter-
ranean ; being joined at Lyons by the Saone
from the N., and below Lyons from the E. by the
Isere, the Drome, and the Durance. The Seine
is united with the Loire by a canal as is the
Garonne with the Mediterranean sea.

Since the revolution which commenced in 1789,
France has been divided into 86 departments, each
department into 3 to 6 arrondissements, the total
being 368, the arrondissements into 2,669 cantons,
and the cantons into 38,990 communes. Accor-
ding to censuses of the population taken in 1789,
the numbers were 26,300,000, and in 1820, 30,451,
187; this number, taken in reference to the ex-
tent of surface over which it is spread, renders
France, relatively, more than one-third less popu-
lous than England and AVales.

With the exception of the S. E. departments
bordering on the Alpine territories of Swit-
zerland, Savoy, and Piedmont which are elevat-
ed, France may be regarded as a level, rather than
a mountainous country, and in many respects,
alike in a geographical, political, and social sense,
as bearing a siihilar relation to Europe that the fine
and fertile plains and people of China do to Asia.
Over all the S. E. part of the country the vine, al-
mond, olive, and mulberry, luxuriate and bring
forth fruit in the highest degree of perfection,
and the vine and a variety of delicious fruits flour
ish over the greater part of the country, to the
49th degree of lat