Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Morbihan

MORBIHAN, a department of western France, formed of part of Lower Brittany, lies on the Atlantic seaboard between 2° 2′ and 3° 45′ W. long., and between 47° 26′ and 48° 12′ N. lat., being bounded S.E. by the department of Loire-Inféricure, E. by that of Ille-et-Vilaine, N. by Côtes du Nord, and W. by Finistère. Its chief town, Vannes, is 248 miles west-south-west of Paris in a direct line and 310 by rail. From the Montagues Noires on the northern frontier the western portion of Morbihan slopes southward towards Finistère, watered by the Quimperlé, the Blavet with its affluent the Scorff, and the Auray; the eastern portion, on the other hand, dips towards the south-east in the direction of the course of the Oust and its feeders, which fall into the Vilaine. Though the Montagnes Noires contain the highest point (975 feet) in the department, the most striking orographic feature of Morbihan is the dreary, treeless, streamless tract of moorland and marsh known as the Landes of Lanvaux, which extends (west-north-west to east-south-east) with a width of from 1 to 3 miles for a distance of 31 miles between the valley of the Claie and that of the Arz (affluents of the Oust). A striking contrast to this district is afforded by the various inlets of the sea, whose shores are clothed with vegetation of exceptional richness, large fig-trees, rose-laurels, and aloes growing as if in Algeria. The coast-line is exceedingly irregular: the mouth of the Vilaine (the longest river of the department), the peninsula of Ruis, the great gulf of Morbihan (Inner Sea), from which the department takes its name, and the mouth of the Auray, the long Quiberon peninsula attached to the mainland by the narrow isthmus of Fort Penthièvre, the deep-branching estuary of Etel, the mouths of the Blavet and the Scorff uniting to form the port of Lorient, and, finally, on the borders of Finistère the mouth of the Laita, follow each other in rapid succession. Off the coast lie the islands of Groix, Belle-isle, Houat, and Hoedik. Vessels drawing 13 feet can ascend the Vilaine as far as Redon; the Blavet is canalized throughout its course through the department; and the Oust, as part of the canal from Nantes to Brest, forms a great waterway by Redon, Josselin, Rohan, and Pontivy. The climate of Morbihan is characterized by great moisture and mildness, due to the influence of the Gulf Stream.

Of the 2625 square miles forming the department, nearly one half is occupied by moors (landes), arable soil forming little more than a third part of the whole, meadows a tenth, and woodlands a fifteenth. The horses number 36,000, horned cattle 285,000, sheep 92,000, pigs 60,000, goats 6000, and beehives 76,000. In 1882 the agricultural produce comprised 3,751,680 bushels of rye and 1,544,170 bushels of wheat; and considerable quantities of buckwheat, oats, potatoes, pease and beans, chestnuts, beetroot, hemp, colza, and flax are grown. A little wine also is made, but the usual liquor of the district is cider (manufactured to the extent of 11 to 13 million gallons per annum). The sea-ware gathered along the coast helps greatly to improve the soil. Outside of Lorient there is little industrial activity in Morbihan, though canvas, leather, preserved foods, paper, and chemical products derived from the sea are all manufactured. Salt marshes give employment to 400 hands, and yield on an average 9892 tons of salt; and slate, kaolin, iron-ore, and granite are also worked. The catching and curing of sardines and the breeding of oysters form the business of many of the inhabitants of the coast, who also fish for anchovies, lobsters, &c., for tinning. There are 154 miles of railway in the department, and it was intended (1883) that the line from Nantes to Brest should have branches from Auray to St Brieuc and to Quiberon, and from Questembert to Ploermel. Morbihan is divided into four arrondissements,—Vannes, Lorient, Ploermel, and Pontivy—37 cantons, and 249 communes. The population in 1881 was 521,614.

Few departments contain so many localities interesting for their historical associations. Besides the megalithic monuments of Carnac (2800 inhabitants) (q.v.) and of Locmariaquer (2050), may be mentioned—Sarzeau (5720) with its castle of Sucinio, one of the ancient dukes of Brittany; Josselin (2710) with the tomb of Olivier de Clisson, constable of France, and of his second wife Marguerite de Rohan; the castle of the Rohans, and in the neighbourhood a column in memory of the "Combat of the Thirty;" Guéméné (1570) and the chateau of the Rohan Guéméné family; Le Palais (4885), the chief place in Belle-isle, containing the château of Fouquet (Louis XIV.'s superintendent of finance) and the hospital erected by his wife. Quiberon (2380) is associated with the disaster of the French émigrés; Hennebont (6050) has a magnificent railway viaduct over the Blavet, and La Roche Bernard (1230) a suspension bridge over the Vilaine, 646 feet long and 108 feet above spring tides.