m. W.N.W. of Rennes by rail. Population
(1906) town, 71,163; commune, 85,294. It is situated to the north of a
magnificent landlocked bay, and occupies the slopes of two hills divided by
the river Penfeld,--the part of the town on the left bank being regarded as
Brest proper, while the part on the right is known as Recouvrance. There
are also extensive suburbs to the east of the town. The hill-sides are in
some places so steep that the ascent from the lower to the upper town has
to be effected by flights of steps and the second or third storey of one
house is often on a level with the ground storey of the next. The chief
street of Brest bears the name of rue de Siam, in honour of the Siamese
embassy sent to Louis XIV., and terminates at the remarkable swing-bridge,
constructed in 1861, which crosses the mouth of the Penfeld. Running along
the shore to the south of the town is the Cours d'Ajot, one of the finest
promenades of its kind in France, named after the engineer who constructed
it. It is planted with trees and adorned with marble statues of Neptune and
Abundance by Antoine Coysevox. The castle with its donjon and seven towers
(12th to the 16th centuries), commanding the entrance to the river, is the
only interesting building in the town. Brest is the capital of one of the
five naval arrondissements of France. The naval port, which is in great
part excavated in the rock, extends along both banks of the Penfeld; it
comprises gun-foundries and workshops, magazines, shipbuilding yards and
repairing docks, and employs about 7000 workmen. There are also large naval
barracks, training ships and naval schools of various kinds, and an
important naval hospital. Brest is the seat of a sub-prefect and has
tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, a board
of trade-arbitrators, two naval tribunals, and a tribunal of maritime
commerce. There are also lycees for boys and girls and a school of commerce
and industry. The commercial port, which is separated from the town itself
by the Cours d'Ajot, comprises a tidal port with docks and an outer
harbour; it is protected by jetties to the east and west and by a
breakwater on the south. In 1905 the number of vessels entered was 202 with
a tonnage of 67,755, and cleared 160 with a tonnage of 61,012. The total
value of the imports in 1905 was L244,000. The chief were wine, coal,
timber, mineral tar, fertilizers and lobsters and crayfish. Exports, of
which the chie