  The branching fraction of the tau- --> 3h- 2h+ nu decay (h= pi, kaon) is
measured with the BaBar detector to be (8.56 +/- 0.05 +/- 0.42)E-04 where the
first error is statistical and the second systematic. The observed structure of
this decay is significantly different from the phase space prediction, with the
rho resonance playing a strong role. The decay tau- --> f1 pi nu with the f1
meson decaying to four charged pions, is observed and the branching fraction is
measured to be (3.9 +/- 0.7 +/- 0.5)E-04.
