The environs of Creil (Oise) and Chteau-Landon (Seine-et-Marne) are noted for their freestone (pierre de taille), which is also abundant at Euville and Lrouville in Meuse; the production of plaster is particularly important in the environs of Paris, of kaolin of fine quality at Yrieix (1-Jaute-Vienne), of hydraulic lime in Ardche (Le Teil), of lime phosphates in the department of Somme, of marble in the departments of HauteGaronne (St Beat), Hautes-Pyrnes (Campan, Sarrancolin), Isre and Pas-de-Calais, and of cement in Pas-de-Calais (vicinity of Boulogne) and Isre (Grenoble).
The canal and river system attains its greatest utility in the north, northeast and north-centre of the country; traffic is thickest along the Seine below Paris; along the rivers and small canals of the rich departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais and along the Oise and the canal of St Quentin whereby they communicate with Paris; along the canal from the Marne to the Rhine and the succession of waterways which unite it with the Oise; along the Canal de lEst (departments of Meuse and Ardennes); and along the waterways uniting Paris with the Sane at Chalon (Seine, Canal du Loing, Canal de Briare, Lateral canal of the Loire and Canal du Centre) and along the Sane between Chalon and Lyons.
Est (uniting Meuse with Moselle and Saflne)..
To the north of the Meuse, and more especially in the low-lying ground enclosed between the Waal and the Rhine (insula Batavorum) lived the Batavi, a clan of the great Germanic tribe, the Chatti.
In order to provide employment for his soldiers, Corbulo made them cut a canal from the Mosa (Meuse) to the northern branch of the Rhine, which still forms one of the chief drains between Leiden and Sluys, and before the introduction of railways was the ordinary traffic road between Leiden and Rotterdam.