CREUSE, a department of central France, comprising the greater portion of the old province of Marche, bounded N. by the departments of Indre and Cher, E. by Allier and Puyde•Dome, S. by Correze, and W. by Haute-Vienne, with an area of 2150 square miles. The surface is hilly, with a general inclination north-westward in the direction of the valley of the Creuse, sloping from the mountains of Auvergne and Limousin, which rise southward and branch into the department. The highest point within its limits is in the forest of Chateauvert, 3050 feet above the sea. Rivers, streams, and lakes are numerous, but none are navigable 3 the principal is the Creuse, which rises on the north side of the mass of Mount Odouze on the border of the department of Correze, and passes through the department, dividing it into two nearly equal portions, receiving the Petite Creuse from the right, and afterwards flowing on to join the Vienne. The valleys of the head-streams of the Cher and of its tributary the Tardes occupy the eastern side ; those of the heads of the Vienne and its tributary the Thorion, and of the Gartempe joining the Crouse, are in the west of the department. The climate is in general cold, moist, and variable ; the rigorous winter covers the higher cantons with snow ; rain is abundant in spring, and storms are frequent in summer, but the autumn is always fine. Except in the valleys the soil is poor and infertile, so that agriculture is not in an advanced state, and the produce of corn, chiefly rye, oats, and buckwheat or " sarrasin," is not sufficient for home consumption. The chestnut abounds in the north and west, and its fruit is largely used. Cattle rearing and sheep breeding are the chief industries of the department. Creuse supplies Poitou and Vendee with draught oxen. Coal is mined to some extent, chiefly in the basin of Ahun, but though iron ore, antimony, and kaolin are known, they are not worked. Millstones are quarried at Ldsigny. There are thermal springs at Evaux in the east of the department. A railway uniting the systems of the Loire and Garonne basins crosses the department from cast to west, and a branch line leads up the valley of the Creuso to Aubusson. With Haute-Vienne Creuse forms the diocese of Limoges. The department i8 divided into the four arrondissements of Gueret, the capital (population, 4899), Aubusson, the largest place (population, 6034), l3ourganeuf, and Boussac, and further into twenty five cantons. Population of department (1872), 274,633. Home labour is not sufficient for the support of the population, and from 20,000 to 25,000 of the inhabitants of the department go yearly to other parts of France in search of employment..