QBE

95

OBJ

hemp, in order to be used in caulking the seams, tree-nails andbends of a ship, for stopping or preventing leaks.

OANNES, a being in Chaldean mythology, represented ashalf a man and half a lish. According to Berosus and others, thismonster was the civilizer of the Chaldeans; to whom he taught asystem of jurisprudence so perfect as to be incapable of improve-ment.

OAR, in navigation, a long piece of wood, made round whereit is to be held in the hand, and thin and broad at the other end,for the easier cutting and resisting the water, and consequentlymoving the vessel, by rowing ; that part of the oar which is out ofthe vessel, and which enters into the water, is called the blade, orwash-plat: and that which is within board is termed the loom,whose extremity, being small enough to be grasped by the vowe.s,or nersons managing the oars, is called the handle.

Oasis, the name of three districts of Egypt , so called fromtheir fertility, the word oasis, signifying “a fertile spot in a sandydesert.” They produce barley, maize, dates, &c.

Oasis is also the name of several fertile districts of Africa , inSahara, or the Great Desert.

OAT, or OA1S. See Avena, and Husbandry.

OAT II, Jusjukandum, is a solemn affirmation in which thepersons sworn invoke the Almighty to witness that their testimonyis true, renouncing all claim to his mercy, and calling for his ven-geance it it be Else: on which account such an oath is termedsacramentum, a holy band, or lie ; and it is also called a corporaloath, because the person who takes it, lays his right hand on,thebook of the Evangelists. Ail oaths must be administered by aperson duly authorized, and in order to' discover truth and right;and therefore, if a person not duly authorized, administers an oath,he is punishable both with tine and imprisonment. The laws ofall civilized slates have required the security of an oath for evi-dence given in a court of justice, and die ’Christian religion ut-terly prohibits swearing, except when oaths are required by legalauthority.

OB, [plural Obolh,'] in Hebrew antiquity, a daemon or familiarspirit. 'I lie original or radical meaning of the word occurs inJob xxxii. 19, where Elihu compares his belly to oboth, new bot-tles. Hence some etymologists derive the name Ops, the goddessof the earth, and Upis, a name of Diana, or the Moon .

Ob, or Oby. See Oby.

OBAD1AH, [Heb. lay and tv, i. e. the servant of the Lord,]a valiant man of David’s army, who came to join him in thewilderness, with several others of the tribe of Gad, (1 Chron.xii. 9.)

Obadiah, was also the name of one of those whom king Jeho-shaphat sent into the cities of Judah, to instruct the people intheir religion ; (2 Chron. xvii. 7,) as well as of one of the principalmen of Judah, who signed the covenant that Nehemiah renewedwith the laird. (Nehem. x. 5.)

Obadiah , the prophet, is believed to have been the same withthe governor of Ahab ’s home, mentioned in the first book ofKings (xviii. 3, &c.) who hid and fed the hundred prophets whomJezebel would have destroyed; and some say, that he was (hatObadiah whom Josiah made overseer of the works of the temple,(2 Chron. xxxiv. 12.) The truth is, that when he lived, or pro-phesied, is whollv uncertain: though most writers make him con-temporary with llosea, Amos, and Joel.

OBASlNE, a town of France, in the department of Correze ,S miles S. of Tulles, and 6 N. E. of Brive . Lon. 1. 44. E. Lat.48. 25. N.

OBDACH, a town of Stiria , at the conflux of the Achzaand Traun, 35 miles W. of Gratz. Lon. 14. 43. K. Lat. 47.3. N.

OBEDIENCE, or OBEDIENTIA, in the canon-law, issometimes used for an office, or the administration of it. In ourancient customs obedientia was used, in the general, for everything that was enjoined the monks by the abbots: and in a morelimited sense it was applied to the farm belonging to the abbey, towhich the monks were sent vi ejusdem obedientia:, either to lookafter the farm, or collect the rents, lienee, these rents themselveswere also called obedientia:.

OBELISK , [obelisctis, Lat.] in architecture, a truncated, qua-drangular, and slender pyramid, raised as an ornament, and fre-quently charged either with inscriptions or hieroglyphics ; so call-ed because of its resemblance to the spits on which the ancients

roasted the flesh of their sacrifices. Obelisks appear to be of verygreat antiquity, and to have been first raised to tran-mit to poste-rity precepts of philosophy, which were cut in Ineroglyphicalcharacters: afterwards they were used to immortalize the greatactions of heroes, and the memory ot persons beloved. The firstobelisk mentioned in history was that of Raineses king of Eg\pt,in the time of the Trojan war, which was 40 cubits high. J’nius,another king of Egypt , raised one of 55 cubits; and Ptolemy 1’lii-ladelphus, another of 88 cubits, in memory of Arsinoc. Augustus erected one at Rome in the Campus Martins, whuh served tomark the hours on an horizontal dial, drawn on the pavement.They were called by the Egyptian priests the fingers of the sun,because they were made in Egypt also to serve as styles or gno-mons to mark the hours on the ground. The Arabs still call themPharaoh’s needles; whence the Italians call them agugiia. and theFrench aiguilles. The famous obelisks called the devil’s arrows,now reduced to three, the fourth having been taken down in theseventeenth century, stand about half a mile from the town of Bo-roughbridge to the S. W. in three fields, separated by a lane, 200feet asunder, nearly on high ground sloping every way. Mr.Drake urges many arguments for their Roman antiquity, andplainly proves them to be natural, and brought from Plumptonquarries about five miles off, or from Ickly 16 miles off’. r l hecross in the town, 12 feet high, is of the same kind of stone. 'I heeasternmost or highest is 22 teet and an half high, by four broadand four and a half in girth ; the second 21 and a half by 55 anda quarter ; the third lfi and a hall by 84. Slukelev’s measuresdiffer. The llutings are cut in the stone but not through: thetallest stands alone, and leans to the south. Plot and Stukeiey.affirm them to he British monuments, originally hewn square.Dr. Gale supposed that they were Mercuries, w hich had lost theirheads and inscriptions ; but in a MS. note in his Antoninus , heacknowledges that he was misinformed, and that there was no ca-vily to receive a bust. On the N. side of Penrith in the church-yard are two square obelisks, of a single stone each, 11 or 12 feethigh, about 12 indies diameter, ami 12 bj 8 at the sides; thehighest about 18 inches diameter, with something like a transversepiece to each, and mortised into a round base. They are 14 feet,asunder, and between them is a grave inclosed between four semi-circular stones of the unequal lengths of 5, 6, 4 and a half, and 2leet high, having on the outsides rude carving, and the tops notch-ed. This is called the Giant’s grave, and ascribed to Sir EwanCxsarius, who is said to have been as tall as one of the columns,and capable of stretching his arms from one to the other, to havedestroyed robbers and wild boars in Englewood forest, and to havehad an hermitage hereabouts called Sir Ilugh’s parlour. A littleW. of these is a stone called the Giant’s Thumb, six feet high, 14inches at the base contracted to 10, which is only a rude cross,which is the circle of 18 incites diameter. M. Pouchard, in theMemoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions, gives a very curious ac-count of some celebrated Egyptian obelisks. Gent. Mag. forJune 1740.

OBERKIRCH, a town and fort of France , in tire departmentof the Lower Rhine, and late province of Alsace ; three miles E.of Strasburg .

OBI5RLAND, a province of Prussia, fertile, rich, and well :cultivated, formerly called Flockerland.

OBERNIIAU, a town of Upper Saxony, inErzgeburg; sixmiles N. of Lauterstein.

OBERNKiRCIIEN,. a town of Germany, in Austria , eightmiles W. of Freistatt.

OBERNPERG, a town of Bavaria , on the Inn ; with a fort;12 miles S. S. W. of l’assau. Lon. 13. 36. E. Lat. 48. 15. N.

OBEltSTEiN, a late county of Germany , in the late elec-torate of Treves, and palatinate of the Rhine , now annexed toFrance, and included in the department of the Rhine and Moselle ..

Oberstein, a town of France, in the department of Rhine andMoselle, 32 miles E. S. E. of Treves .

OBER-WESEL, a town of France , in the department of theRhine and Moselle, and late electorate of Treves ; 40 milesE. N.E. of Treves .

OBERWOLTZ, a town of Germany, in Stiria , 24 miles W. ofJudenburg .

OBJ EC T, in philosophy, something apprehended or pre-sented to the mind by the sensation or imagination. See Meta--physics.

Object-