Alais

Alais, a French town in the Department of the Gard, on the right bank of the Gardon and at the base of the Cevennes Mountains, 25 miles N.N.W. of Nimes on the Paris, Lyons, and Mediterranean Railway. Once the stronghold of French Protestantism, it was captured in 1629 by Louis XIII., and Louis XIV. built a fortress there. It is now the centre of a busy mining district. Iron, zinc, lead, and manganese arr smelted there; coal is plentiful; silk, ribbons, glass, and vitriol are manufactured. There are cold mineral springs that attract visitors.