CETTE, a fortified seaport in the department of Hérault, in 43° 23' 48" N. lat. and 3° 42' 15" E. long., and 15 miles S.W. of Montpellier. After Marseilles it is the principal commercial port on the south coast of France. It occupies the foot and slope of a hill, the ancient Mons Setius, situated on a tongue of land that lies between the Mediterranean and the Lagoon of Thau. The town is well built, and has numerous factories, glass-works, shipbuilding yards, a custom-house, a school of navigation, a communal college, a botanic garden, museums, a library, and a theatre. It is much resorted to for sea-bathing. The harbour is capable of accommodating 400 sea-going vessels, and is safe in all weathers. The left of the two moles which form it runs E.N.E. for a distance of about 630 yards into the sea, and is then continued in a breakwater, which extends across the entrance. At the end of this mole are the fort of St Louis and the lighthouse. Opposite to them, on the other side of the harbour, is the fort of St Pierre, which, with the citadel, completes the defences of Cette. The town is connected with Lyons by the Canals des Etangs and de Beaucaire and the Rhone, and with Bordeaux by the Canal du Midi; railways communicate with Toulouse and Montpellier, and steamers with the Mediterranean ports. The shipping trade of Cette is very considerable. Its imports are colonial produce, wool and cotton, hides, cork, brandy and wine for manufacture, iron and lead ores, staves from the Adriatic, asphalt, fruits, sulphur, wheat, oats, maize, barley, timber, and coal. In 1873 the port was visited by 63 British ships, of total tonnage 17,409, mostly laden with pitch for manufacture into patent fuel at the coal mines N. of Nîmes. The greater number of these ships left Cette in ballast. ...