Morbihan

Morbihan, a French department, formerly part of the province of Brittany, has Finisterre and Cotes du Nord on the N. and W., Ille-et-Vilaine on the E., and Loire-Inferieure on the S.E. It has an area of 2,624 square miles, including the island of Belle Isle. There are several smaller islands. A large part is covered by heath and marsh. The chief towns are Vannes and L'Orient. The name (Breton for little sea) is properly that of the inland archipelago on the W., remarkable alike for the number of its islands and the force of its tides.