The natural resources of this extensive region are incalculable, but their development has been well nigh impossible through lack of transport facilities. They include the characteristic woods of the Amazon valley, rubber, nuts, cinchona or Peruvian bark, medicinal products, fish, fruits and fibres. The cultivated products include cocoa, coffee, tobacco and fruits. Straw hats and hammocks are manufactured to some extent. The natural outlet of this region is the Amazon river, but this involves 2500 m. of river navigation from Iquitos before the ocean is reached. Communication with the Pacific coast cities and ports of Peru implies the crossing of three high, snow-covered ranges of the Andes by extremely difficult trails and passes. A rough mountain road has been constructed from Oroya to Puerto Bermudez, at the head of navigation on the Pachitea, and is maintained by the government pending the construction of a railway, but the distance is 210 m. and it takes nine days for a mule train to make the journey. At Puerto Bermudez a river steamer connects with Iquitos, making the distance of 930 m. in seven days. From Lima to Iquitos by this route, therefore, involves 17 days travel over a distance of 1268 m. The most feasible route from the department to the Pacific coast is that which connects Puerto Limon, on the Marañon, with the Pacific port of Payta, a distance of 410 m., it being possible to cross the Andes on this route at the low elevation of 6600 ft. The climate of Loreto is hot and humid, except on the higher slopes of the Andes. The year is divided into a wet and a dry season, the first from May to October, and the average annual rainfall is estimated at 70 in. though it varies widely between distant points. The capital and only town of importance in the department is Iquitos.
LORIENT, a maritime town of western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Morbihan, on the right bank of the Scorff at its confluence with the Blavet, 34 m. W. by N. of Vannes by rail. Pop. (1906) 40,848. The town is modern and regularly built. Its chief objects of interest are the church of St Louis (1709) and a statue by A. Mercié of Victor Massé, the composer, born at Lorient in 1822. It is one of the five maritime prefectures in France and the first port for naval construction in the country. The naval port to the east of the town is formed by the channel of the Scorff, on the right bank of which the chief naval establishments are situated. These include magazines, foundries, forges, fitting-shops, rope-works and other workshops on the most extensive scale, as well as a graving dock, a covered slip and other slips. A floating bridge connects the right bank with the peninsula of Caudan formed by the union of the Scorff and Blavet. Here are the shipbuilding yards covering some 38 acres, and comprising nine slips for large vessels and two others for smaller vessels, besides forges and workshops for iron shipbuilding. The commercial port to the south of the town consists of an outer tidal port protected by a jetty and of an inner dock, both lined by fine quays planted with trees. It separates the older part of the town, which is hemmed in by fortifications from a newer quarter. In 1905, 121 vessels of 28,785 tons entered with cargo and 145 vessels of 38,207 tons cleared. The chief export is pit-timber, the chief import is coal. Fishing is actively carried on. Lorient is the seat of a sub-prefect, of commercial and maritime tribunals and of a tribunal of first instance, and has a chamber of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a lycée, schools of navigation, and naval artillery. Private industry is also engaged in iron-working and engine making. The trade in fresh fish, sardines, oysters (which are reared near Lorient) and tinned vegetables is important and the manufacture of basket-work, tin-boxes and passementerie, arid the preparation of preserved sardines and vegetables are carried on. The roadstead, formed by the estuary of the Blavet, is accessible to vessels of the largest size; the entrance, 3 or 4 m. south from Lorient, which is defended by numerous forts, is marked on the east by the peninsula of Gâvres (an artillery practising ground) and the fortified town of Port Louis; on the west are the fort of Loqueltas and, higher up, the battery of Kernevel. In the middle of the channel is the granite rock of St Michel, occupied by a powder magazine. Opposite it, on the right bank of the Blavet, is the mouth of the river Ter, with fish and oyster breeding establishments from which 10 millions of oysters are annually obtained. The roadstead is provided with six lighthouses. Above Lorient on the Scorff, here spanned by a suspension bridge, is Kérentrech, a pretty village surrounded by numerous country houses.
Lorient took the place of Port Louis as the port of the Blavet. The latter stands on the site of an ancient hamlet which was fortified during the wars of the League and handed over by Philip Emmanuel, duke of Morcœur, to the Spaniards. After the treaty of Vervins it was restored to France, and it received its name of Port Louis under Richelieu. Some Breton merchants trading with the Indies had established themselves first at Port Louis, but in 1628 they built their warehouses on the other bank. The Compagnie des Indes Orientales, created in 1664, took possession of these, giving them the name of l’Orient. In 1745 the Compagnie des Indes, then at the acme of its prosperity, owned thirty-five ships of the largest class and many others of considerable size. Its decadence dates from the English conquest of India, and in 1770 its property was ceded to the state. In 1782 the town was purchased by Louis XVI. from its owners, the Rohan-Guéméné family. In 1746 the English under Admiral Richard Lestock made an unsuccessful attack on Lorient.
LORINER, or Lorimer (from O. Fr. loremier or lorenier, a maker of lorains, bridles, from Lat. lorum, thong, bridle; the proper form is with the n; a similar change is found in Latimer for Latiner, the title of an old official of the royal household, the king’s interpreter), one who makes bits and spurs and the metal mountings for saddles and bridles; the term is also applied to a worker in wrought iron and to a maker of small iron ware. The word is now rarely used except as the name of one of the London livery companies (see [Livery Company]).
LORIS, a name of uncertain origin applied to the Indo-Malay representatives of the lemurs, which, together with the African pottos, constitute the section Nycticebinae of the family Nycticebidae (see [Primates]). From their extremely slow movements and lethargic habits in the daytime these weird little creatures are commonly called sloths by Anglo-Indians. Their soft fur, huge staring eyes, rudimentary tails and imperfectly developed index-fingers render lorises easy of recognition. The smallest is the slender loris (Loris gracilis) of the forests of Madras and Ceylon, a creature smaller than a squirrel. It is of such exceeding strangeness and beauty that it might have been thought it would be protected by the natives; but they hold it alive before a fire till its beautiful eyes burst in order to afford a supposed remedy for ophthalmia! The mainland and Cingalese animals form distinct races. Both in this species and the slow loris there is a pair of rudimentary abdominal teats in addition to the normal pectoral pair. The slow loris (Nycticebus tardigradus) is a heavier built and larger animal, ranging from eastern Bengal to Cochin China, Siam, the Malay Peninsula, Java and Sumatra. There are several races, mostly grey in colour, but the Sumatran N. t. hilleri is reddish.
(R. L.*)