Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Bagnères-de-Bigorre

BAGNÈRES-DE-BIGORRE (the Vicus Aquensis of the Romans), the capital of an arrondissement in the depart ment of Hautes-Pyre ne es, is situated on the left bank of the Adour, 13 miles S.E. of Tarbes. It is one of the princi pal watering-places in France, and is much admired for its picturesque situation and the beauty of its environs, parti cularly the valley of Campan, which abounds with beautiful gardens and handsome villas. The town is remarkably neat and clean, and many of the houses are built or orna mented with marble. Its thermal springs and baths are numerous and varied, and are very efficacious in debility of the digestive organs and other maladies. Their temperature is from 90 to 135 Fahr. The season commences in May and terminates about the end of October, during which time the population is more than doubled. Manu factures of woollen cloth, worsted, leather, pottery, and toys are carried on, and marble from the neighbouring quarries is wrought in the town. Greatly frequented by the Romans, and destroyed by the Gothic invaders, Bagneres begins to appear again in history in the 12th century, and rose into permanent importance under the reign of Jeanne d Albert, the mother of Henry IV. Per manent population, about 9500.