SEINE INFERIEURE, a department of the north of France, formed in 1790 of four districts (Norman Vexin, Bray, Caux, and Roumois) belonging to the province of Normandy. Lying between 49° 15' and 50° 4' N. lat. and 1° 52' and 0° 4' E. long., it is bounded N.W. and N. by the English Channel for a distance of 80 miles, N.E. by Somme, from which it is separated by the Bresle, E. by Oise, S. by Eure and the estuary of the Seine, which separates the department from Calvados. It is divided almost equally between the basin of the Seine in the south and the basins of certain coast streams in the north. The Seine receives from the right. hand before it reaches the department the Epte and the Andelle from the Bray dis-trict, and then the Darnetal, the Cailly, the Austreberte, the Bolbec, and the Lezarde. The main coast streams are the Bresle (which forms the ports of Eu and Treport), the Yeres, the Argues or Dieppe stream (formed by the junction of the Varennes, the Bethune, and the Eaulne), the Scie, the Saane, the Durdent. As a whole the department may be described as an elevated plateau culminating towards the east in a point 807 feet above the sea and terminating along the Seine in high bluffs and 'towards the sea in steep chalk cliffs 300 to 400 feet high, which are continually being eaten away and transformed into beds of shingle. There is no striking line of parting between the basins of the Seine and the Channel, but deep valleys have been hollowed out by the streams. The Bray district in the south-east is a broad valley of denudation formed by the sea as it retired, and it is traversed by smaller valleys and covered with excellent pasture. In the comparatively regular outline of the coast there are a few breaks, as at Preport, Dieppe, St Valery-en-Caux, Fecamp, and Havre, the Cap de la Have, which commands this last port, and Cape Antifer, 12 or 13 miles farther north. Treport, Dieppe, Veules, St Valery, Fdcamp, Yport, Etretat, and Ste Adresse (to mention only the more important) are fashionable watering-places with the Parisians. The winters are not quite so cold nor is the summer so hot as in Paris, and the average temperature of the year is higher. The rainfall is 24 inches per annum, increasing from Rouen to Dieppe as the sea is approached.

With a total area of 1,491,458 acres, Seine Inferieure has 911,938 acres of amble ground, 151,125 of wood, 99,703 grass, 32,977 moorland and pasturage. Out of a total population of 814,068 in 1881 those dependent on agriculture numbered 233,536. The live stock in the same year comprised 81,561 horses of good breeds, 1421 asses, 125 mules, 236,493 cattle, 259,677 sheep of ordinary kinds and 27,523 of special breeds (wool-clip, 560 tons), 78,186 pigs, 3341 goats, 13,202 beehives (54 tons of honey and 13 of wax). Mulch cows are kept in great numbers, and Gournay butter and Gournay and Neufchatel cheese are in repute. The farms of the Caux plateau are each surrounded by an earthen dyke, on which are planted forest trees, generally beech and oak. Within the shelter thus provided apple and pear trees grow, which produce the cider generally drunk by the inhabitants (38,602,036 gallons in 1883). The other crops in 1883 were-wheat, 6,667,650 bushels ; meslin, 59,950 ; rye, 654,489 ; barley, 443,751 ; oats, 7,017,609 ; potatoes, 2,954,457 ; pulse, 98,736 ; beetroot for sugar 28,837 tons, and for fodder 118,099 ; colza seed, 29,076 tons ; and 457,047 tons of ordinary fodder. In general the department is fertile and well cultivated. Along the Seine fine meadow-land has been reclaimed by dyking ; and sandy and barren districts have been planted with trees, mostly with oaks and beeches, and they often attain magnificent dimensions, especially in the forest of Argues and along the railway from Rouen to Dieppe ; Pinus sylvestris is the principal component of the forest of Rouvray opposite Rouen. With the exception of a little peat and a number of quarries, employing 745 workmen, Seine Inferieure has no mineral source of wealth ; but manufacturing industry is well developed. Rouen is the chief centre of the cotton-trade, which is in the department represented by 190 spinning and weaving factories, employing 22,947 hands, 1,400,000 spindles, 14,000 power-looms, and 4000 hand-looms, and working up 30,000 tons of cotton annually. Hand-loom weaving, carried on throughout the country districts, employs 18,000 looms ; in the branch of the cotton trade known as rouranerie 190 manufacturers are employed, producing to the value of £2,400,000 per annum ; in that of the indiennes 20 establishments with 5000 workpeople turn out yearly 1,000,000 pieces of 115 yards each. There are 22 establishments for dyeing cotton cloth with 700 workmen, and for dyeing cotton yarn 32 establishments with 1200 workmen. The woollen manufacture, of which Elbeuf is the centre, employs 24,000 workmen and produces goods valued at about £3,500,000, with raw material valued at £1,720,000, mainly imported from Australia and partly from the La Plata ports. The wool-spinning mills (at Elbeuf and Darnetal) have 92,000 spindles, and there are 650 power-looms and 3800 hand-looms. At Elbeuf (22,883 inhabitants in 1881) there are 17 dyeworks, 50 twist factories, a manufactory of carding machines, and 45 cloth-dressing factories. About 18,000 spindles are employed in flax-spinning, an industry more widely distributed throughout the department. Engineering works, foundries, and iron shipbuilding yards occur at Havre (population 105,540 in 1881) and Rouen (105,860). Wooden ships are also built at Havre, Rouen, Dieppe (21,585), and Fecamp (11,919). Other establishments of importance are the national tobacco-factories at Dieppe (1100 hands) and Havre (580 hands), sugar-refineries (£1,440,000 worth of sugar in 1881), glass-works (873 workmen), soap-works, chemical works, candle-factories, flour-mills, oil-factories, ivory-works, lace-works, clock-factories, Sz.c. The total number of industrial establishments in the department is 975 ; and it is estimated that 305,460 persons depend on industrial pursuits. The fisheries are -a great resource for the inhabitants of the seaboard. Fecamp sends yearly £100,000 worth of cod and £80,000 worth of herrings, mackerel, Sz.c., into the market ; Dieppe has the supplying of Paris with fresh fish ; St Valery sends its boats as far as Iceland. The principal ports for foreign trade arc Havre, Rouen, and Dieppe. There are 364 miles of railway, 370 of national roads, 6543 of other roads, 98 of Seine navigation, and the Bresle is canalized for 2 miles. In population Seine Inferieure stands fourth in the list of French departments ; it has consequently been proposed to divide it into the two departments of Seine Inferieure and Seine Maritime. The density of population is double the average of France. There are 5 arrondissements, 51 cantons (of which 3 are in Havre and 6 in Rouen), and 759 communes. The department forms the archbishopric of Rouen ; the court of appeal and the headquarters of the corps ce armee are also in that city. Places of importance are Elbeuf ; Fecamp, a fishing port, with sea - bathing, distilling, Sic. ; Bolbec (10,226 inhabitants), with weaving and spinning factories; and Eu (4827 inhabitants), with a celebrated castle belonging to Louis Philippe and the Orleans family.