NOIRMOUTIER, an island of France belonging to the department of Vendée, and protecting the Bay of Bourgneuf on the south-west. Between the island and the mainland is a sandbank laid bare at low water, and crossed by an embankment and carriage road, which is continually kept in good repair. It was not till about 1766 that people found they could walk across to the island, which lies from north-north-west to south-south-east, and is 11 miles long, its breadth varying from 1 mile in the south part to 3 or 4 miles in the north. It appears to be formed of alluvial deposits gradually accumulated round a rock of no great size situated at the meeting-place of the Gascony and Brittany currents. The area now amounts to 18 square miles, of which about a sixth part is occupied by dunes. The total population was 7726 in 1881. There are two communes: Noirmoutier and Barbâtre. The former has about 2029 of its 5908 inhabitants gathered together in a little town with narrow and winding streets. Its castle was once the residence of the abbot of Her. In the church there is a crypt of the 11 th century. A mile to the north of the town lies a pleasant watering-place, rendered picturesque by the La Chaise woods (evergreen oaks and pines), and a grand confusion of rocks, among which the sea has scooped out many a delightful little beach....