Fruits of excellent quality are common in every quarter, though it is only in the warmer and better-sheltered .districts that the orange, lemon and olive are cultivated with success on an extensive scale. The mulberry is admirably adapted to the climate, and by means of it a good deal of excellent silk is obtained; and a large extent of country is devoted to vine cul ture, caused partly by the demand for Portu guese wines in Britain. Among domestic ani mals the first place is due to the mule, of which very superior breeds have long been possessed and are carefully preserved. Sheep, goats and hogs are numerous, but little attention is paid to their improvement. Cattle are of compara tively less importance.
Manufactures and Commerce.— Manufac tures are still limited, although they have been rapidly increasing of late years, and cotton goods are now exported. Among the articles made to some extent on a wholesale or com mercial footing are textiles at Lisbon; woolen cloth and other woolen stuffs at Portalegre, Covilhao, etc.; porcelain at Vista Alegre; delft and ordinary earthenware at Lisbon, Oporto, Coimbra, Beja, Estremoz, etc.; cottons at Oporto; prints and lace at Lisbon and Oporto; cotton-twist at Thomar; silks at Braganza, Cha cim, Oporto, etc.; copper and tinware at Lisbon and other places; corks, ribbons, embroidery, hats, confectionery, fine soap, jewelry and cut gems, glass, paper, wickerwork and tobacco. Shipbuilding is carried on to some extent, ves sels being constructed at Lisbon, Figueira, Oporto and elsewhere. The principal exports besides wine are cork, cattle, cottons, olive-oil, sardines and tunny fish, fruits, iron and copper pyrites, tin and horses; the principal imports are cereals, colonial produce, woolen, cotton, linen and silk tissues, iron, steel and various other metals, machinery, cured fish, coal, petro leum, timber, dyes and drugs, etc. In 1913 (the last normal year before the war) the value of the exports was over $40,000,000 (more than half foods), imports $78,000,000. The bulk of the trade is with Great Britain and France, and the chief export to the former is wine. The value of the wine sent to Great Britain annually is nearly $5,000,000. Coal and cotton goods have the highest value among the exports from Great Britain to Portugal, with considerable amount in iron (wrought and unwrought) and machinery.
Shipping and Navigation, The mercantile shipping of the republic in 1911 comprised 66 steamers and 259 sailing vessels, with an aggre gate of 114,000 tons. In 1914, 9,017 vessels of 20,505,334 tons entered, and about the same total cleared the ports of Portugal.
Communications.— The length of sea-coast, with the harbors found upon it, and the number of rivers, furnish great facilities for trade, but all the other means of internal communication are defective. There are over 9,000 miles of public roads; in 1914, 1,849 miles of railway were open for traffic, of which 711 miles were owned by the state; in the same year there were over 5,945 miles of telegraphic line in operation. There are 4,400 post offices, handling annually 55,000,000 letters, 24,000,000 cards, and 50,000,000 pieces of printed matter.
Money, Weights and Measures.— The
republic of Portugal established a new mone tary system, the main unit being the escudo, worth a little more than one dollar, or 100 cen tavos; four and one-half escudos are legal ten der for an English sovereign. Paper and silver are the chief media of circulation. The French metric system of weights and measures was in troduced into Portugal between 1860 and 1861 The Portuguese libra was 1.012 pound avoirdu pois, the arroba was 32 libras, the quintal four arrobas. The chief linear measures were the legoa, or league of 18 to the degree; the milka, or common geographical mile; the brace, or fathom=7.4 feet; the vara, or yard, one-half of the former; and p e, or foot—about 13 inches. For dry measure the bushels; and for liquids the a/mudo=froin 3.7 to 5.6 gallons, were used.
Government.— The last king of Portugal was Manoel H, who came to the throne 1 Feb. 1908, on the assassination of his father and elder brother, Luiz Philip. In 1910 there was a short revolution, that culminated 5 October in the proclaiming of La Republica Portuguesa. A provisional government held authority until a constitution had been formed and a regular election took place, in August 1911, when Manoel de Arriaga was chosen the first constitu tional President (24 Aug. 1911-27 May 1915). He did not serve out his term, but was suc ceeded by Theophilo Braga as provisional Presi dent from 29 May to 5 Oct. 1915. The new constitution was patterned in some respects after that of the United States, though with several marked differences. There are two Chambers, the National Council, having 164 members, directly elected every three years, and the Second or Upper Chamber, of 71 members, elected by all the municipal councils, half of them elected every three years. The Chambers elect the President for a single term of four years. The President appoints the Cabinet or Ministry, but they are responsible to the Par liament, consisting of the two Chambers. The constitution may be revised once in 10 years. Bernardino Machado was elected the second constitutional President of the republic, and took office 5 Oct. 1915. On 25 April 1917, he formed a new Cabinet, Affonso Costa being Premier and Minister of Finance, Lieut.-Col. Norton de Mattos, Minister of War, and Au gusto Soares, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Machado held office until 8 Dec. 1917, when he was swept out of office by a revolution. A rev olutionary Junta succeeded; it was led by Si donio Paes, who, on 12 Dec. 1917, became Premier and on the 28th of the same month was made acting President, pending the regular elec tion of a President by Congress. On 28 April 1918 Paes was elected President. The new gov ernment assumed the old public debt, which was about $800,000,000, and which has grown stead ily, being at the billion mark in 1918. The reve nue for the three years previous to the war was about $84,000,000 annually, with slightly greater expenditures. In 1917 the revenue fell off and the expeqses were scaled to meet the funds. The war expenses were separate. (See ARMY AND NAVY). In addition the colonies of Portu gal have an annual revenue of about $18,000, 000, balanced by equal expenditures.