A 
V’ARIS. . (In the centre of the island is the Cathedral of Nötre Dame. 
T’he Basin of the Loire is largely devoted to the cultivation of wheat, 
wine, and the sugar-beet. Orleans is situated at the river bend, and 
8Njoys easy communication with Paris. The port of Nantes, at the mouth 
of the Loire, has been recently improved by the construction of a ship 
Canal, and has for its out-port St. Nazaire, which will accommodate the 
largest vessels. Limoges is noted for the manufacture of porcelain, 
fostered by the presence of kaolin, a clay formed by the decomposition 
> the granite in the locality. 
The Basin of the Garonne.—The Garonne rises in the Pyrenees, but 
its right-bank tributaries derive their waters from the central platean, 
and the Lot and the Tarn have cut deep canyons in a limestone district 
°hrough which they pass before reaching the main river. The Dordogne 
nly joins the Garonne in the estuary called the Gironde. The most 
2oted product of the district is wine, largely exported from Bordeaux, 
While brandy is made at Cognac. Wheat and tobacco are cultivated in 
Places, Toulouse benefits by its position with regard to the gap between 
the Cevennes and Pyrenees, and marks the junetion of the (aronne and 
he Canal du Midi. 
South of the Gironde stretches the Landes, a low-Iying sandy district 
With a _Mmonotonous coastline, affording no natural sites for harbours. 
The coastal belt consists partly of marshes studded with shallow lagoons