ORILLIA 



4413 



ORKNEY ISLANDS 



teacher in a school in Alexandria, and his repu- 

 tation spread through all the Christian world. 

 With intervals of travel, he remained in Alex- 

 andria until about 231, when during a visit to 

 Palestine he was ordained a presbyter. Deme- 

 trius, bishop of Alexandria, declaring that he 

 alone had the right to ordain Origen, had him 

 deposed from the priesthood and ordered never 

 to return to his native city, but the churches of 

 Palestine and Asia Minor defended him, and he 

 accordingly lived in Caesarea for the rest of 

 his life. He escaped persecution during the 

 reign of Maximinus, but under Decius was 

 thrown into prison and tortured so severely 

 that he died as a result of his injuries. 



ORILLIA, oril'ia, a town in Si mcoe County, 

 Ontario. It is prettily situated at the head of 

 Lake Couchiching, and is noted for the scenic 

 beauty of the neighboring section. It is a 

 popular summer resort, but is also an impor- 

 tant industrial center and railway junction point. 

 Three railways, the Canadian Pacific, Canadian 

 Northern and Grand Trunk, serve the town, 

 which is eighty-six miles north of Toronto by 

 rail and about eighteen miles directly north of 

 Barrie. Orillia lies about midway between 

 Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe. Population 

 in 1911, 6^28; in 1916, estimated, 8,000. 



Although Orillia was originally known merely 

 aa a resort, it is now of considerable importance 

 industrially. Among its manufacturing estab- 

 uents are clothing factories; saw and plan- 

 ing nulls; furniture, carriage, automobile and 

 boat factories ; smelting and refining works ; and 

 various other industrial plants. Orillia owns 

 and operates its waterworks and electric light- 

 ing system. Noteworthy public buildings are 

 Carnegie Library, the Collegiate Institute 

 and the provincial asylum for the insane. 



ORINOCO, orino'ko, a great river of South 

 America, ranking next to the Amazon and the 

 Parana in volume. Rising, in the I'.nima high- 

 lands in Venezuela, near the boundary betv 



country ami Brazil, it flows in a north- 

 westerly direction until it reaches the Colombia 

 lioiiM.hry. then turns northward, forming the 

 line between Venezuela and Colombia, and 

 finally swings to the east, making its way to 

 the Atkntk <>eean through a great delta 7,000 

 square miles in area. Its length is about 1,500 



, and at flood season, 



sometimes spreads out to a width of 100 miles 

 while its delta has the appearance of a broad 

 HA, 



Orinoco enters the ocean through about 

 fifty channels. Though this mighty stream is 



navigable for large steamers to a point 700 

 miles from its mouth, and has another navi- 

 gable reach of about 500 miles above the mag- 

 nificent Maipures and Altures rapids, it is not 

 an important commercial highway because much 

 of its course lies in a densely forested region 

 that is but sparsely inhabited. Ciudad Boli- 

 var, 260 miles from the Atlantic, is the center 

 of the river trade, and there is weekly steam- 

 ship service between this town and Trinidad 

 during a part of the year. Including the river's 

 tributaries, most important of which are the 

 Guaviare, the Meta and the Apure, the Orinoco 

 has a navigable length of 4,300 miles. 



ORIOLE, o'riohl, a bright-colored bird of 

 the family of the same name, the most familiar 

 species of which is the golden oriole. This 

 bird is a vivid yellow, with black on the wings 

 and tail. It is resident throughout the conti- 

 nent of Europe and is known as a springtime 

 visitor in the British Isles. It weaves a fabric- 

 like nest and suspends it from the forked bough 

 of a tree. The eggs are usually a glistening 

 white, but with sometimes a pink tinge and a 

 few spots of deep purple. A similar oriole is 

 found in India, and other species are common 

 in Southern Asia and Africa. 



American orioles are not closely related to 

 the Old World varieties. The Baltimore and 

 orchard orioles are found in the Eastern states 

 and the Bullock's and hooded orioles west of 

 the Rocky Mountains and in Mexico. See 

 BALTIMORE ORIOLE, for picture of nest, page 565. 



ORION, ori'on, a hunter who, in Greek 

 mythology, saw and pursued the Pleiades, only 

 to lose them. Later he sought to abduct the 

 wife of Oenopion, who detected the scheme, 

 frustrated it, and put out the eyes of Orion. 

 In this pitiful condition, aged and alone, he 

 wandered to the cave of the Cyclopes, who led 

 him to the sun, from whom he borrowed light 

 and youth again. Then Diana saw him and 

 loved him. and Apollo, angered at what he con- 

 sidered her misplaced affection, challenged his 

 sister to shoot at a black speck far out at sea. 

 She succeeded at the first attempt, and was 

 heartbroken when >h learned that the speck 

 was the head of Orion, who had been swim- 

 ming in the od an. To assuage her grief, she 

 d Orion, with his faithful dog Sirius, in 

 the skies as the most beautiful constellation of 

 its part of the heavens (see map, page 445). 



ORKNEY, awrk'ni, ISLANDS, a group of 

 islands separated from the north of Scotland 

 by the Pent land I nth. which is six and one- 

 fourth miles wide. Thirty of the islands are 



