ELNE  , a

town of south-western France in the department of Pyrenees-Orientales, to m . S.S.E. of Perpignan by rail . Pop . (1906) 3026 . The hill on which it stands, once washed by the sea, which is now over 3 M. distant, commands a fine view over the plain of Roussillon . From the 6tn century till 1602 the town was the seat of a bishopric, which was transferred to Perpignan . The cathedral of St Eulalie, a Romanesque building completed about the beginning of the 12th century, has a beautiful cloister in the same style, with interesting sculptures and three early Christian sarcophagi . Remains of the ancient ramparts flanked by towers are still to be seen . Silk-worm cultivation is carried on . Elne, the ancient Illiberis, was named Helena by the emperor Constantine in memory of his mother . Hannibal encamped under its walls on his march to Rome in 218 B.C . The emperor Constans was assassinated there in A.D .

350 . The town several times sustained

siege and capture between its occupation by the Moors in the 8th century and its capitulation in 1641 to the troops of Louis XIII . EL OBEID, chief town of the mudiria (province) of Kordofan, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and 230 M . S.W. by S. of Khartum in a direct line . Pop . (1905) about 10,000 . It is situated about 2000 ft. above the sea, at the northern foot of Jebel Kordofan, in 13° 11' N. and 300 14' E . It is an important trade centre, the chief articles of commerce being gum, ivory, cattle and ostrich feathers . A considerable part of the trade of Darfur with Egypt passes through El Obeid . El Obeid, which appears to be a place of considerable antiquity and the ancient capital of the country, was garrisoned by the Egyptians on their conquest of Kordofan in 1821 . In September 1882 the town was assaulted by the troops of the mandi, who, being repulsed, laid siege to the place, which capitulated on the 17th of January 1883 . During the Mandia the city was destroyed and deserted, and when Kordofan passed, in 1899, into the possession of the Anglo-Egyptian authorities nothing was left of El Obeid but a part of the old government offices .

A new town was laid out in squares, the mudiria repaired and

barracks built .