CAVAILLON  , a

town of south-eastern France in the department of Vaucluse, 20 M . S.E. of Avignon by rail . Pop . (1906) town, 5760; commune, 9952 . Cavaillon lies at the southern base of Mont St Jacques on the right bank of the Durance above its confluence with the Coulon . It has a hotel de ville of the 18th century, a church of the 12th century, dedicated to St Veran, and the mutilated remains of a triumphal arch of the Roman period . The town is an important railway junction and the commercial centre of a rich and well-irrigated plain, which produces melons and other fruits, early vegetables (artichokes, tomatoes, celery, potatoes), and other products in profusion . Silk-worms are reared, and silk is an important article of trade . The preparation of preserved vegetables, fruits and other pro-visions, distilling, and the manufacture of straw hats and leather are carried on . Numerous minor relics of the Roman period have been found to the south of the present town, on the site of the ancient Cabellio, a place of some note in the territory of the Cavares . In medieval and modern history the town has for the most part followed the fortunes of the Comtat Venaissin, in which it was included . Till the time of the Revolution it was the see of a bishop, and had a large number of monastic establishments .