Wild animals are not numerous in France, from
the want of large forests and extensive mountains.
The black and brown bears are found among
the Pyrenees and the lynx among the Alps. The

badger digs its den in the remotest woods, and
the mole is abundant in the most fruitful fields.
The forests of the Vosges and the woods upon
the Moselle afford a shelter to several species of
squirrels. And the Siberian flying squirrel, which
issues from its retreat in the night and springs
from branch to branch is not uncommon among
the Alps. The hamster rat is one of the most per-

nicious of the tribes in existence. He makes ex-
traordinary ravages among the crops -and will
sometimes amass in his den an hundred pounds
of grain. All the large forests are inhabited hy
the wolf, the most destructive of the carnivorous
animals in France.

Almost every species of bird common to Europe
is found here. The flamingoes from Africa ap-
pear in flocks on the shores of the Mediterranean.
The becaficoes or fig-peckers, so much esteeemed
by the epicure are abundant in the south. That
fine songster, the nightingale, is by no means rare.
Larks are so abundant that the markets are often
stocked with them for food, and the business of

taking them with bird-lime affords employment to
great numbers of people. The red partridge is
common in the central and western departments,
and the grey in the southern. Woodcocks and
6nipes frequent the woods and marshes. The
ring ouzel is a bird of passsage and feeds upon

insects and berries, bnt is particularly fond of the
grapes of this conntry. The goldfinch, the lin-
net and th6 bulfinch may be added to the list of
singing birds. Of hawks there is a variety, and
among them may be mentioned the goshawk
who is of a slender and elegant figure and very
destructive to small game This bird k also
found in Germany and occasionally in Great
Britian.

The N. and N. W. departments are productive in
every kind of grain, pulse and legumes; man-
ufactures of silk, wool, linens, leather, and met-
als, are carried on over all parts of the country,
and since the termination of the war in 1814, the
cotton n anufacture has been progressively in-
creasing, and is now carried on to a great extent.
In addition to these internal resources, France
exclusively enjoys the abundant produce of the
islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe in the West
Indies ; she also holds in colonial possession Cay-
enne in South America; Goree and Senegal on
the coast of Africa; and the isle of Bourbon in the
Indian Ocean; and draws considerable supplies
of produce from Brazil, the United States of Amer-
ica, parts beyond the Cape of Good Hope, the
Levant, and other parts of the world, in exchange
for her surplus produce of wines, brandy, silks,
and various manufactures. Exempt from ail those
extremes of climate which in several parts of the
world militate against physical exertion, as well
as vegetation, France may be considered as pos-
sessing within itself all the means of commanding
a higher degree of human enjoyment than can be
obtained in any other part of Europe, and equal to
what can be obtained in any other part ofthe globe.

For centuries prior to,the Christian era, this
part of Europe appears to have been inhabited by
a numerous and hardy race of people, those oc-
cupying the interior being denominated Celts.
The first important notice which history furnishes
of them is in 225 B.C. when the Gauls who in-
habited part of Piedmont and the north of Italy,
invited the people then occupying the banks of
the Rhone to aid them in repelling the aggressions
of the Romans ; and from thus being brought in
contact with that powerful and enlightened peo
pie, they acquired the name of Transalpine Gauls,
in reference to their territory lying W. of the
Alps, and in contradistinction to the ancient
Gauls, who were designated the Cisalpines. In
106 B. C. the Cimbri and Teutones from the
north of Germany marched through Transalpine
Gaul into Spain, ravaging the country on their
way, but being driven back by the Celtiberians,
they divided their forces with the view of pene-
trating into Italy in two directions: the Teutones
directed their course to the S. E. when they
were opposed by Marius, between the mouths of
the Rhone and the Durance, and experienced a
complete defeat, losing 200,000 men on the field
of battle, and 80,000 more taken prisoners. From
this period the Romans extended their arms and
their arts over the greater part of the country,
and in 59 B. C. the Roman senate conferred on
Julius Cffisar the government of all Transalpine
Gaul for five years; two years after this, the
whole western coast from the Seine to the Loire