The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

66 FRANCE.
Moissac (5,675 inhabitants), iu the alluvial plain and neai' the confluence of
Garonne and Tarn, is one of the great grain markets of France, and possesses a
mediteval church and cloisters, which contrast strangely with a modern aqueduct
and an iron railway bridge. Valence d'Agcn (2,926 inhabitants), lower down in
the valley, is wealthy and industrious. An old house is still pointed out there
in which sat the inquisitors who condemned forty-three heretics to the stake.
Fig. 47.
—
The Alluvial Plain of the Gahoxne, the Tarn, and the Aveyron.
Scale 1 : 320,000.
. 5
UUes.
The plateau to the north of the Aveyron is but thinly populated, and the only
town of any importance there is Caussade (2,438 inhabitants). The Aveyron, on
entermg the department, passes through a series of picturesque gorges, bounded by
limestone cliffs, the caverns in which have yielded numerous implements of palseo-
lithic age. St. Antonin (2,520 inhabitants), the most considerable town in that
1°V.