OAXACA 



,M t 'I 



OBERAMMERGAU 



Oazaca OR OAJACA. Capital oi 

 the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. It 



.Mit.uii* a maaaive cathedral, 

 an institute of arta and cienoes, 

 and a natural history museum. 

 Jewelry, cotton goods, chocolate. 

 .mi I fibre are manufactured. Oax- 

 aca has rly. communication \vith 

 Mexico city. On Monte Alban. 

 near by, and on other sites in the 

 viill<-v. an- remains of ancient 

 Mexican civilization. Pop. 33,000. 

 Ob OR OBI. River of Asiatic 

 Russia. It is formed by the union 

 of the Biya and Katunya, rising 

 in the govta. of Tomsk and Tobolsk, 

 in the little Altai range. It first 

 flows N., next N.W. to its junction 

 with the Irtish, then N., and at 

 Obdorsk turns sharply E. and dis- 

 charges into the gulf of Ob, an arm 

 of the Arctic Ocean, 600 m. long 

 and 60 m. broad. The length of the 

 Ob is 2,100 m. or (including the 

 Irtish) 2,500m. 



Obadiah. Minor prophet. His 

 book predicts the utter ruin oi 

 Edom, and the coming of the Day 

 of the Lord. 



Oban. Mun. burgh, seaport, and 

 watering-place of Argyllshire, Scot- 

 land. It is 113 m. from Glasgow, 

 being served by 

 both the N.B. and 

 Cal. Rlys. It is 

 a great tourist 

 centre, and has 

 a splendid har- 

 bour, protected 

 by the island of 

 Kerrera. The 

 Oban arms buildings include 

 a modern Roman Catholic cathe- 

 dral. Near are the ruined castles 

 of Dunstaffnage and Dunolly. It 

 was made a burgh in 1811. Mar- 

 ket day, Wed. Pop. 6,600. 



Ob- Arctic Railway. Proposed 

 rly. across Arctic Russia. The line 

 is to start from Obdorsk on the 

 Ob and cross the Ural Mts. to a 

 port E.of the mouth of the Pechora, 

 probably near the entrance to 

 khaipudirskaya Bay. It is to 

 comprise 300 m. of narrow-gauge 

 line. This proposal is alternative 

 to a greater proposition to connect 

 Chemashevskoe farther up the 

 Ob with Soroka on the Murmansk 

 rly., and on the White Sea. A third 

 proposal is to extend the Vyatka- 

 Kotlas line to Soroka. All these 

 proposals are intended to connect 

 the Ob valley with an Arctic outlet. 

 O.B.E. Abbrev. for the Order 

 of the British Empire (q.v.), and 

 for an Officer of the Order. 



Obeah OR OBI. West African 

 term denoting a form of negro 

 witchcraft practised in some W. 

 Indian islands and southern United 

 States. The obeah-man or obeah- 

 woman employs incantations, and 

 charms such as bottles contain- 



ing feather*, pebble*, plant*, and 

 rag*, sometime* resorting to 



Elton. See Fetiahum; Juju: 

 igic; Voodoo. 



O Becse. Town of Yugo- 

 slavia, in the Baoka, formerly in 

 Hungary. Situated on the right 

 bank of the Thru* (Tiaa), 45 m. 

 S. i.f Szeged, with communication* 

 by road, rly., and river, it ha* an 

 important trade in wheat and con- 

 tains Hour mills. The Slav name 

 is Stan Beccj. Pop. 10,400. 



Obelisk (Or., spit for roasting). 

 Tapering pillar-stone, especially 

 in ancient Egypt. Usually a four- 

 aided monolith of pink syenite, 

 with a base-width one-tenth of its 

 height, and a copper-sheathed 

 pyramidal apex, it bore incised 



Banuley ; Cleopatra 1 * Needle* ; 

 Heliopoli*; Karnak ; ManuhtOMi; 

 I'vli'it; Hhalmaneser. 



Oberammergao. Village of 

 Upper Bavaria. It i* j 

 ated in the Taller of the Aramer, 

 46 m. 8.8. W. of Munich, with which 

 it is connected by an electric rly.. 

 opened in 1900, from Murnau. The 

 village i* famous for the Pa**km 

 Play (q.v.) which wa* held here 

 periodically nce the middle of the 

 17th cnturv until 1910. Owing to 

 the Great War it wa* not given 

 again until 1922. Until 1830 the 

 play was presented in front of 

 the church ; it was then removed 

 to a meadow at the end of the vil- 

 lage. The stage i* open, framed in 

 a background of fir-clad hills. The 



Oban, Scotland. Town and harbour from the south-west 



hieroglyphs upon each face. They 

 stood in pairs before temple por- 

 tals, indicative of sun-worship. 

 This colossal type was introduced 

 by Senusert I (Xllth dynasty). 

 One remains at Heliopolis (Jere- 

 miah 43) ; others, once there, are 

 now in New York and London. 

 One of Hatshepsut's at Karnak 

 still stands. The tallest extant, 

 105$ ft., is in Rome ; Paris has 

 one of Rameses II from Luxor. 

 Bankee brought one from Philae to 

 Kingston Lacy, Dorset, 1815, 

 which assisted Champollion to 

 decipher the hieroglyphs. See 



auditorium, entirely covered in 

 after 1890, contains 4,000 seats, 

 arranged in tiers, and cost 10,000. 

 The affairs of the village are con- 

 trolled by a burgomaster and coun- 

 cil elected by the householders. 

 The inhabitants, about 1,400 in 

 number, are mostly peasants and 

 carvers in wood. On a knoll behind 

 the village rises The Group of the 

 Crucifixion, presented by Ludwig 

 II in memory of his visit in 1871. 

 Near by is the Benedictine monas- 

 tery of Ettal, founded in 1330, 

 dissolved in 1803, and rebuilt after 

 a fire in 1844. . Situated on the old 



Oberammergau. Havana. State and Crucifixion Scene ot the Passion Play 



