and other cereals, the olive and the vine, being the
chief products; other important industries are mining, the Peninsula
being extremely rich in the useful minerals; Merino sheep farming,
anchovy and sardine fisheries, wine-making, and the manufacture of
cotton, silk, leather, and paper; chief exports are wine, fruits, mineral
ores, oil and cork; Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, and Malaga are
the chief towns; the widest variety of character exists among the natives
of the various provinces, from the hard-working, thrifty Catalan to the
lazy, improvident Murcian, but all possess the southern love "of song,
dance, and colour," and have an inherent grace and dignity of manner;
Roman Catholicism is the national religion; and although systems of
elementary and secondary schools are in vogue, education over all is in a
deplorably backward condition; the Government is a hereditary and
constitutional monarchy; the Cortes consists of the Senate and the
Chamber of Deputies; universal suffrage and trial by jury are recent
innovations. The outstanding fact in the history of Spain, after the
downfall of the Roman Empire, of which she had long formed a part, is the
national struggle with the Moors, who overran the peninsula in the 8th
century, firmly established themselves, and were not finally overthrown
till Granada, their last possession, was taken in 1492; sixteen years
later the country became a united kingdom, and for a brief period, with
its vast American colonies and wide European possessions, became in the
16th century the dominant power of Europe; since then she has lagged more
and more in the race of nations, and her once vast colonial empire has
gradually crumbled away till now, since the unsuccessful war with America
in 1898, only an island or two remains to her.

SPALATO (15), a historic and flourishing town of Dalmatia, finely
situated on a promontory on the E. side of the Adriatic, 160 m. SE. of
Fiume; a place of considerable antiquity, and one of the great cities of
the Roman world; is chiefly famed for the vast palace built by
Diocletian, and which became his residence after his abdication;
subsidiary buildings and grounds were enclosed by walls, within which now
a considerable part of the town stands; the noblest portions of the
palace are still extant; the modern town carries on an active trade in
grain, wine, cattle, etc.; is noted for its liqueurs.

SPALDING, a market-town in Lincolnshire, 34 m. SE. o