PONTIVY  , a

town of western France, chief town of an arrondissement in the department of Morbihan, 46 m . N.N.W. of Vannes by rail . Pop . (1906), 6312 (town); 9506 (commune) . The town, situated on the Blavet, at its confluence with the Nantes-Brest canal, comprises two distinct parts—the old town and that to the south known as Napoleonville . The latter, built by order of Napoleon I., who desired to make it the military headquarters for Brittany, and consisting chiefly of barracks, subsequently gave its name to the whole town, but in 1871 the old name was resumed . The ancient castle (1485) of the dukes of Rohan, whose capital the town was, is occupied by the Musee le Brigant of art and archaeology . A monument to commemorate the Breton-Angevin Union, the deputies of which met at Pontivy in 1790, was erected in 1894, and there are statues of Dr Guepin, a democrat, and General de Lourmel (d . 1854) . The town has a sub-prefecture, a tribunal of first instance, and a lycee for boys . Pontivy had its origin in a monastery founded in the 7th century by St Ivy, a monk of Lindisfarne . PONT-L'ABB$, a town of western France in the department of Finistere, r3 m .

S.W. of

Quimper by rail . Pop . (1906), of the town 4485, of the commune 6432 . The town is situated on the right bank of the estuary or river of Pont-l'Abbe, 2 M. from the sea . Its port carries on fishing, imports timber, coal, &c., and exports mine-props and the cereals and vegetables of the neighbourhood . Of the old buildings of the town the chief is a church of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, once attached to a Carmelite convent; an old castle is occupied by the hotel de ville . The local costumes, trimmed with the bright-coloured embroideries for which the town is noted, are among the most striking in Brittany; the bigouden or head-dress of the women has given its name to the inhabitants . Pont-l'Abbe carries on flour-milling and the extraction of chemicals from 'seaweed .