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was composed of 17 stars in the form of a man holding a sword ;for which reason the poets often speak of Orion’s sword. As theconstellation of Orion is generally supposed to be accompanied atits rising with great rains and storms, it has the epithet of aquosusgiven it by Virgil. The name is formed from the Greek tomake water; the ancients supposing that it occasioned floods at itsrising and setting. See Astronomy.
Orion, in mythology, was the son of Jupiter, Neptune, andMercury. For as these gods were visiting the earth, they enteredthe house of Hyrieus, a native of Tanagra, in Bocolia, as benightedtravellers, he being tamed for hospitality to strangers. Hyrieustreated them generously, and even killed an ox, the only one hehad, for their entertainment. At which the gods were so pleased,that they' offered the old man whatever he would ask ; who saidhe desired nothing so much as a son. Upon this they caused theox's hide to be brought before them, in which, having depositedtheir urine, they bad him keep it under ground for nine months.He then dug for the skin, ami found in it a beautiful child whomhe called Urion from urina ; afterwards changed into Orion. Af-ter death, Orion was placed in heaven, and changed into a con-stellation.
ORISTAGNI, or ORISTANO, an ancient town of Sardinia .Lon. 8 . 58. E. Lat. 39. 55. N.
ORIXA, or ORISSA , a kingdom of Ilindostan, lying on theGulph of Bengal. It is divided from the ancient kingdom of Gol-conda, by a ridge of mountains, the end of which runs a little wayinto the sea. It is fertile in corn and cattle, and they have seve-ral good towns and harbours on the coast; there are also manufac-tures of different kinds carried on throughout the kingdom. Theprince is a Gentoo, who pays to the Great Mogul a tribute of about12 , 0001 . yearly.
ORKNEY ISLANDS, called Orcades , by the ancients, acluster of islands on the north of Scotland , from which they areseparated by a frith 20 miles long, and 10 broad. They are si-tuated between Lon. 0 . 2 . and 1 . 0 . W. of Edinburgh ; and be-tween Lat. 58.37. and 59. 16 . N. The air of these islands ismoist, on account of the neighbourhood of the sea ; and frost andsnow do not continue long. In some places the soil is bare andmountainous, and in others sandy and barren; but many of theislands produce large crops of barley and oats. The gardens,when duly cultivated, produce all kinds of kitchen herbs andsoots, bringing even fruit-trees to maturity ; but in the opencountry there is scarcely a tree or shrub to be seen, except juniper,wild myrtle, heath, and the cyur-hodon: yet this deficiencycannot be imputed to the poverty of the soil, or the nature of the !climate; for trunks of large oaks are often dug up in the marshes, iNay, the inhabitants frequently find, deep in the earth, the roots jof large trees, evidently exhibiting marks of the ax by which they j;were felled ; so that these northern parts must have undergone jsome strange revolutions. The Orkneys produce great variety of jherbs and berries, grass and corn. In some of the islands, the na-tives have discovered mines of tin, lead, and silver, though noneof them are wrought to any advantage; in others, abundance ofmarl, grey and red slate, quarries of freestone, and even of marbleand alabaster. When the wind rages to any violence, the seathrows in plenty of timber, torn from other countries ; and, the ]people often find large pieces of ambergrease. The fresh water in \these islands is very pure and limpid ; anti the ground is well iva- itered with lakes and rivulets, that not only turn their mills, butjabound with trouts of the most delicate flavour. I
ORLAMUNDA, a town of Thuringia, in Altenburg , 40 miles 'S. W, of Altenburg, and 24 E. S. E. of Erfurt . Lon. 11. 24. E. |Lat. 50. 53. N. !
ORLE, ORLET, or ORLO, in architecture, a fillet under jthe ovolo or quarter round of a capital. When it is at the top orbottom of the shaft, it is called cincture. Paladio used the worderk>, for the plinth of the bases of columns.
Qrle, in heraldry, an ordinary in form of a fillet drawn roundthe shield, near the edge or extremity thereof, leaving the fieldvacant in the middle.
O RLE ANN O i S’, or OR EE A NO IS, a late province of France ,which included the several districts of Orleannois Proper, Beaucej Proper, or Chartrain, Dunois , Vendomois, Blaisois, the greatestpart of Gatinois, and Perche-Gouet. The principal rivers are thej Loire, Loiret, Cher, La Conic, Aigle, Hyere, Yonne , and Eyre ;which render the country very fertile. It is now divided into thethree departments of the Loire and Cher, the Loiret , and the Eureand Loire .
ORLEANS, a city of France , capital of the department of theLoiret , and late capital of the Orleannois. It was anciently calledGeuabum, or Cenabnm; and afterwards Aurelia. Orleans lies30 miles N. E. of Blois, and 00 S. S. W. of Paris . Lon. 1 .59. E.Lab 4 ;. 54 . n.
Orleans, an island and town of Canada, on the river St. Law-rence, E. of Quebec . Lon. 69. 50. W. Lat. 47. 0 . N.
Orleans, Maid of. See Joan of Arc ,
Orleans, New, the capital of Louisiana . Lon. 90. 1 . W»Lat. 29. 58. N.
ORLOP, in the sea-language, is the uppermost deck in a greatship, reaching from the main to the mizen-mast. In three-decked ships the second and lowest decks are sometimes calledorlops.
OREOVSKOE, a province of Russia , bounded on tile N. bythose of Smolensk and Kaluga ; E. by Tambouskoe and Tuiskoe ;S. E. by Kurskoi and Voronetskoi, and W. by Smolensk , andNovogorod Sieverskoi. It is 208 miles long, and from 20 to 10 Obroad.
ORMES HEAD, Great and Little, two capes of NorthWales, in Caernarvonshire , 5 miles distant from each other. Lon.2 . 5. Lat. 53. 24. N.
ORMSKIUK, a market-town of Lancashire in England, 13miles N. of Liverpool .
ORMUS, a small island of Asia , at the bottom of the gulph oftiie same name, at the entrance of the Gulph of Persia . Jt isabout 6 miles from the main land, and 18 in circuit. It yieldsplenty of white salt; also a kind of shining black sand, which isused for dusting writings, and is transported in considerable quan-tities to Europe . Lon. 56. 25. E. Lat. 27. 20 . N. i
OR NANS, a town of France, in the department of Doubs ,and late province of Franche Comte , 8 miles S. E. of Be-sancon.
ORNE, a department of France , comprehending part of thelate provinces of Normandy and Perche. It is bounded on theN. by that of Calvados, N. E. by that of Eure and Loire , S. bjrthose of Sarte and Maine ; and W. by that of the Channel. Itis about 70 miles long, and from 18 to 30 broad. Alenqon is thecapital.
Orne, a river of France , which rises about 5 miles from Seez,in the above department, and runs into the English Channel, 9miles below Caen .
ORNEA, an ancient town of Argolis, where a battle was foughtbetween the Spartans and Argives .
ORNISCOPIST, [t{v;; and <™o7mu,] one who examines theflight of birds in order to foretel futurity.
ORNITHIC, a name given by the’ ancients to certain winds,which usually blew in the spring, at the time when the birdsof passage come over to them. Pliny savs,^ that these windsblew from the west, and that by some the Etesian winds werecalled by this name. Others suppose that they blew from the N.or N. W.
ORNITHOGALUM, Star of Bethlehem ; a genus ofthe monogynia order, and hexandria class of plants; natural or-der, Coronari*. Corolla hexapetalous, erect, persisting, and pa-tent above tiie middle ; filaments alterdiiated at the base. Thereare 35 species.