the Segura
valley, which is enclosed on the north by mountains, and on the south
broadens into a fertile plain, producing grain, wine, olives, raisins,
oranges and esparto grass. In the town itself there are flour and paper
mills, sawmills and brandy distilleries. Between 1870 and 1900 local
trade and population increased rapidly, owing partly to improved means
of communication; and the appearance of Cieza is thoroughly modern.

CIGAR, the common term for tobacco-leaf prepared for smoking by being
rolled into a short cylinder tapering to a point at the end which is
placed in the mouth, the other end, which is lighted, being usually cut
square (see TOBACCO). The Spanish _cigarro_ is of doubtful origin,
possibly connected with _cigarra_, a cicada, from its resemblance to the
body of that insect, or with _cigarral_, a word of Arabic origin meaning
a pleasure garden. The explanation that it comes from a Cuban word for a
certain species of tobacco is probably erroneous, since no native word
of the kind is known. The diminutive, _cigarette_, denotes a roll of cut
tobacco enclosed usually in thin paper, but sometimes also in
tobacco-leaf or the husk of Indian corn.

CIGNANI, CARLO (1628-1719), Italian painter, was born of a noble family
at Bologna, where he studied under Battista Cairo, and afterwards under
Francesco Albani. Though an intimate friend of the latter, and his most
famous disciple, Cignani was yet strongly and deeply influenced by the
genius of Correggio. His greatest work, moreover, the "Assumption of the
Virgin," round the cupola of the church of the Madonna della Fuoca at
Forli, which occupied him some twenty years, and is in some respects one
of the most remarkable works of art of the 17th century, is obviously
inspired from the more renowned fresco of Correggio in the cupola of the
cathedral of Parma. Cignani had some of the defects of his masters; his
elaborate finish, his audacious artificiality in the use of colour and
in composition, mark the disciple of Albani; but he imparted to his work
a more intellectual character than either of his models, and is not
without other remarkable merits of his own. As a man Cignani was
eminently amiable, unassuming and generous. His success, however, made
him many enemies; and the envy of some of these is said to have impelled
them to deface certain of his works. He accepted none of the honours
offered him by the duke of Parma and other princes, but lived an