Iron and coal are mined, and there are important zinc deposits
(Planioles). Limestone is quarried. There are oil-works and numerous
mills, and wool spinning and carding as well as cloth making, tanning,
currying, brewing and the making of agricultural implements are carried
on to some extent. The three arrondissements are those of Cahors, the
capital, Figeac and Gourdon; there are 29 cantons and 329 communes.
Lot belongs to the 17th military district, and to the _académie_ of
Toulouse, and falls within the circumscription of the court of appeal at
Agen, and the province of the archbishop of Albi. It is served by the
Orleans railway. Cahors, Figeac and Rocamadour are the principal places.
Of the interesting churches and châteaux of the department, may be
mentioned the fine feudal fortress at Castelnau occupying a commanding
natural position, with an audience hall of the 12th century, and the
Romanesque abbey-church at Souillac with fine sculpturing on the
principal entrance. The plateau of Puy d'Issolu, near Vayrac, is
believed by most authorities to be the site of the ancient Uxcellodunum,
the scene of the last stand of the Gauls against Julius Caesar in 51
B.C. Lot has many dolmens, the finest being that of Pierre Martine, near
Livernon (arr. of Figeac).
LOT-ET-GARONNE, a department of south-western France, formed in 1790 of
Agenais and Bazadais, two districts of the old province of Guienne, and
of Condomois, Lomagne, Brullois and pays d'Albret, formerly portions of
Gascony. It is bounded W. by Gironde, N. by Dordogne, E. by Lot and
Tarn-et-Garonne, S. by Gers and S.W. by Landes. Area 2079 sq. m. Pop.
(1906) 274,610. The Garonne, which traverses the department from S.E. to
N.W., divides it into two unequal parts. That to the north is a country
of hills and deep ravines, and the slope is from east to west, while in
the region to the south, which is a continuation of the plateau of
Lannemezan and Armagnac, the slope is directly from south to north. A
small portion in the south-west belongs to the sterile region of the
Landes (q.v.); the broad valleys of the Garonne and of its affluent the
Lot are proverbial for their fertility. The wildest part is towards the
north-east on the borders of Dordogne, where a region of _causses_
(limestone plateaus) and forests begins; the highest point (896 ft.) is
also found here. The Garonne, where it quits the department, is only some
20 ft. above the sea-level; it is navigable throughout, with the help of
its lateral canal, as also are the Lot and Baise with the help of locks.
The Drot, a right affluent of the Garonne in the north of the department,
is also navigable in the lower part of its course. The climate is that of
the Girondine region--mild and fine--the mean temperature of Agen being
56.6° Fahr., or 5° above that of Paris; the annual rainfall, which, in
the plain of Agen, varies from 20 to 24 in., is nearly the least in
France. Agriculturally the department is one of the richest. Of cereals
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