Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/816

782 JURA feet), the uniformity of level being as striking as on the west edge of the Jura, though there the absolute height is far less. The posi tion of the Dole is similar to that of the Chasseron, as along the sides of it run the great roads of the Col de St Ccrgues (4159 feet) and the Col dc la Faucille (4341 feet), the latter leading through the Vallee cles Dappos, which was divided in 1862 between France and Switzerland, after many negotiations. The height of these roads shows that they are passages across the chain, rather than through natural depressions. 3. The southern face is supported by two great pillars on the east by the Grand Credo and on the west by the ridge of Rcvermont (2529 feet) above Bourg en Bresse ; between these a huge bastion (the district of Bugey} stretches away to the sonth, forcing the Rhone to make a long detour. On the two sides of this bastion the plains in which Amberieu and Culoz stand balance one another, and are the meeting points of the routes which cut through the bastion by means of deep gorges. On the eastern side this great wedge is steep and rugged, ending in the Grand Golombier (5033 feet) above Culoz, and it sinks on the western side to the valley of the Ain, the district of Bresse, and the plateau of Dombes. The junction of tho Ain and the Surand at Pont d Ain on the west balances that of the Valserine and the Rhone at Bellegarde on the east. The Jura thus dominates on the north one of the great highways of Europe, on the east and west divides the valleys of the Saone and the Aar, and stretches out to the south so as nearly to join hands with the great mass of the Dauphine Alps. It therefore commands the routes from France into Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, and hence its enormous historical importance. Let us now examine the topography of the interior of the range. This naturally falls into three divisions, each traversed by one of the three great rivers of the Jura the Doubs, the Loue, and the Ain. 1. In the northern division it is the east and west line which prevails the Lomont, the Mont Terrible, the defile of the Doubs from St Ursanne to St Hippolyte, and the " Trouee" of the Black Forest towns. It thus bars access to the central plateau from the north, and this natural wall does away with the necessity of artificial fortifications. This division falls again into two distinct portions. (a) The first is the part east of the deep gorge of the Doubs after it turns south at St Hippolyte ; it is thus quite cut off on this side, and is naturally Swiss territory. It includes the basin of the river Bin?, and the great plateau between the Doubs and the : Aar, on which, at an average height of 2600 feet, are situated a | number of towns, one of the most striking features of the Jura, j These include Locle and La Chaux de Fonds, and are mainly occu- j pied with watchmaking, an industry which does not require bulky : machinery, and is therefore well fitted for a mountain district. (b) The part west of the " Cluse" of the Doubs. Of this, the ! district east of the river Dessoubre, isolated in the interior of the range (unlike the Locle plateau), is called the "Haute Hontagne," and is given up to cheese making, curing of hams, saw mills, &c. But little watchmaking is carried on there, Besancon being the chief French centre of this industry, and being connected with Geneva by a chain of places similarly occupied, which fringe the west plateau of the Jura. The part west of the Dessoubre, or the Moycnne Montague, a huge plateau north of the Loue, is more espe cially devoted to agriculture, while along its north edge metal work ing and manufacture of hardware are carried on, particularly at Besangon and Audincourt. 2. The central division is remarkable for being without the deep gorges which are found so frequently in other parts of the range. It consists of the basin of which Pontarlier is the centre, through notches in the rim of which routes converge from every direction ; this is the great characteristic of the middle region of the Jura. Hence its immense strategical and commercial importance. On the north-east roads run to Morteau and Locle, on the north-west to Besangon, on the west to Salins, on the south-west to Dole and Lons- le-Saunier, on the east to the Swiss plain. The Pontarlier plateau is nearly horizontal, the slight indentations in it being due to erosion, e.g. , by the river Drugeon. The keys to this important plateau are to the east the Fort de Joux, under the walls of which meet the two lines of railway from Neuchatel, and to the west Salins, the meeting place of the routes from the Col de la Faucille, from Besangon, and from the French plain. The Ain rises on the south edge of this plateau, and on a lower shelf or step, which it waters, are situated two points of great military importance Nozeroy and Champaguole. The latter is specially important, since the road leading thence to Geneva traverses one after another, not far from their head, the chief valleys which run down into the South Jura, and thus commands the southern routes as well as those by St Cergues and tho Col de la Faucille from the Geneva region, and a branch route along tho Orbe river from Jougne. The fort of Les Rousscs, near the foot of the Dole, serves as an advanced post to Champagnole, just as the Fort de Joux does to Pontarlier. The above sketch will serve to show the character of the central Jura as the meeting place of routes from all sides, and the import ance to France of its being strongly fortified, lest an enemy ap proaching from the north-east should try to turn the fortresses of the " Trouee de Belfort." It is in the western part of the central Jura that the north and south lines first appear strongly marked. There are said to be in this district no less than fifteen ridges run ning parallel to each other, and it is these which force the Loue to the north, and thereby occasion its very eccentric course. The cultivation of wormwood wherewith to make the tonic " absinthe " has its headquarters at Poutarlier. 3. The southern division is by far the most complicated and en tangled part of the Jura. The lofty ridge which bounds it to the east forces all its drainage to the west, and the result is a number of valleys of erosion (of which that of the Ain is the chief instance), quite distinct from the natural " cluses " or fissures of those of the Doubs and of the Loue. Another point of interest is the number of roads which intersect it, despite its extreme irregularity. This is due to the great " cluses " of Nantua and Yirieu, which traverse it from east to west. The north and south line is very clearly seen in the eastern part of this division ; the north-east and south-west is entirely wanting, but in the Villebois range south of Amberieu we have the principal example of the north-west to south-east line. The plateaus west of the Ain are cut through by the valleys of the Valouse and of the Surand, and like all the lowest terraces on the west slope do not possess any considerable towns. The Ain receives three tributaries from the east: (a) The Bicnne, which flows from the fort of Les Rousses by St Claude, the industrial centre of the South Jura, famous for the manufacture of wooden toys, owing to the large quantity of box wood in the neighbourhood. Septmoncel is busied with cutting of gems, and Morez with watch and spectacle making. Cut off to the east by the great chain, the industrial prosperity of this valley is of recent origin. (b) The Oiynon, which flows from south to north. It receives the drainage of the lake of Nantua, a town noted for combs and silk weaving, and which communicates by the " cluse " of the Lac de Silan with the Valserine valley, and so with the Rhone at Belle- garde, and again with the various routes which meet under the walls of the fort of Les Rousses, while by the Yal Romey and the So" ran Culoz is easily gained. (c) The Albarinc, connected with Culoz by the "cluse" of Virieu, and by the Furau flowing south with Belley, the capital of the district of Bugey (the old name for the South Jura). The "cluses" of Nantua and Virieu are now both traversed by important railways ; and it is even truer than of old that the keys of the South Jura are Lyons and Geneva. But of course tha strategic importance of these gorges is less than appears at first sight, because they can be turned by following the Rhone in its great bend to the soi;th. The name Jura, which occurs in Caesar and in Strabo, is a form of a word which appears under many forms (e.g., Joux, Jorat, Jorasse, Juriens), and is a synonym for a wood or forest. The German name is Leberlerg, Leber being a provincial word for a hill. Politically the Jura is French (departments of the Doubs, Jura, and Ain) and Swiss (parts of the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchatel, Bern, Solothurn, and Basel) ; but at its north extremity it takes in a small bit of Alsace (Pfirt or Ferrette). In the Middle Ages the southern, western, and northern sides were parcelled out into a number of districts, all of which were gradually absorbed by the French crown, viz., Gex, Val Romey, Bresse, and Bugey (exchanged in 1601 by Savoy for the marquisate of Saluzzo), Tranche Comte, or the Free County of Bur gundy, an imperial fief till annexed in 1674, the county of Montbeliard (Miimpelgard), acquired in 1793, and the county of Ferrette (French 1648-1871). The northern part of the eastern side was held by the bishop of Basel as a fief of the empire, but was given to Bern in 1815 (as a recompense for its loss of Vaud), and now forms the Bernese Jura, a French-speaking district. The centre of the eastern slope formed the principality of Neuchatel and the county of Vallangiu, which were generally held by Burgundian nobles, came by succession to the kings of Prussia in 1707, and were formed into a .Swiss canton in 1815, though they did not become free from formal Prussian claims until 1857. The southern part of the eastern slope originally belonged to the house of Savoy, but was con quered bit by bit by Bern, which was forced in 1815 to accept its subject district Vaud as a colleague and equal