MARTIGUES  , a

port of south-eastern France in the department of Bouches-du-Rhone, on the southern shore of the lagoon of Berre, and at the eastern extremity of that of Caronte, by which the former is connected with the Mediterranean . Pop . (1906), 4,178 . Martigues is 23 M . W.N.W. of Marseilles by rail . Divided into three quarters by canals, the place has been called the Venice of Provence . It has a harbour (used by coasting and fishing vessels), marine workshops, oil and soap manufactures and cod-drying works . A special industry consists in the preparation of boutargue from the roes of the grey mullet caught in the salt lagoons, which rivals Russian caviare . Built in 1232 by Raymond Berenger, count of Provence, Martigues was made a viscountship by Joanna I., queen of Naples . Henry IV. made it a principality, in favour of a princess of the house of Luxembourg . It afterwards passed into the hands of the duke of Villars .