﻿1073 



OEDENBURG. 



OHIO. 



1074 



the mansion have been converted into a farm-house. Besides the 

 parish church there is a chapel for Independents. An Endowed school 

 for boys, founded in 1750, has a yearly income from endowment of 

 ■ 38^, and had 43 scholars in 1852. There are also National school.". 

 The Basingstoke Canal affords facilities for trade to the district 

 There are two tanneries and some extensive breweries in the town. 

 The market-day is Tuesday. There are two yearly fairs. About a 

 mile north-west from the town are the remains of an old castle, in 

 which David Bruce, king of Scotland, was confined for eleven years 

 after being taken at the battle of Neville's Cross. 



OEDENBUKG, the capital formerly of the palatinate, now of the 

 district of Oedenburg in Hungary, is situated in a pleasant and 

 fruitful country, amidst extensive vineyards and woods of chestnut- 

 trccB, about 2J miles from the southwestern part of the Neusiedler 

 See, 57 miles by railway S.W. from Vienna, and has about 13,000 

 inhabitants, who have been celebrated from remote ages for the culture 

 of the vine. The town is not large, but it is regular and well paved; 

 the suburbs are extensive and well built. It has several fine churches 

 and convents, a Calvinist church, a Catholic and a Protestant lyceum, 

 a gymnasium, a military academy, and a theatre. The inhabitants 

 manufacture considerable quantities of woollen cloths, calico, playing- 

 cards, snuff and tobacco, potash, nitre, and sugar. Oedenburg is a 

 great mart for the sale of cattle, pigs, and the agricultural produce of 

 the surrounding country — wine, corn, wax, honey, and tobacco. In the 

 vicinity there are very extensive coal-mines. Oedenburg was founded 

 by the Romans, and was the station of the 15th legion, which was 

 called Sempronium, whence Soprony, the Hungari.in name of the 

 town. Many Roman antiquities, inscriptions, coins, lamps, sarcophagi, 

 Ac., have been found in the neighbourhood. 



OEHRINGEN. [Jaxt.] 



OELAND. [Ala»d.] 



GELS. [SiLESu.] 



OESEL, on island in the Baltic, situated between 58° and 58° 40' 

 N. lat., 21° 40' and 23° 20' E. long., stretches across the entrance of 

 the Gulf of Livonia, or Bay of Riga. It extends from south by west 

 to north by east about 45 miles, with an average width of about 

 25 miles ; a narrow peninsula extends from its south-western comer 

 about 20 miles southward. The area of the island is about 1200 square 

 miles. The surface is uneven and rocky, but it is covered with a 

 layer of fertile vegetable mould. The winters are much less severe 

 ttuan on the adjacent continent The i»Innd pro<luces grain, of which 

 a part is exported, fiax, hemp, and a little tobacco. A considerable 

 portion of the island is used as pasture-grounds. The fisheries round 

 the coasts of the island afford occupation to many hands. The in- 

 habitants amount to about 40,000. The island belongs to the govern- 

 ment of Livonia, of which it constitutes the circle of Arensburg, so 

 called from the principal town Arensburg. [Livonia.] Oesel was 

 early taken possession of by the Danes, who ceded it to Sweden in 

 1645. In the beginning of the ISth century it was taken by Russia, 

 to which power it was finally ceded in 1721, together with Livonia. 



OETTIXGEN, formerly an independent county in the north part 

 of Soabis, now belongs partly to £^varia and partly to Wiirtemberg. 

 It is a very fertile country, watered by the rivers Wemitz and Eger, 

 and produces com, hemp, flax, and timber. It has a good breed of 

 homed cattle and horses, and is particularly famous for its geese. It 

 has likewise iron, saltpetre, and remarkably fine stone for building. 

 The county is now divided between the two houses of Oettingen-Spiel- 

 berg and Oettingen-Wallerstein. Oettingen-Spielberg is in Bavaria, 

 and has an area of 84 square miles. The prince resides in the town of 

 Oeltingen on the Wemitz, in 48° 57' N. lat, 10° 38' E. long. It is a weU- 

 bnilt town, with two palaces, a gymnasium, a Lutheran and a Rqman 

 Catholic church, gome manufactures of cotton, linen, and worsted, 

 and about 3500 inhabitants. Oettingen is a station on the railway 

 from Augsburg to Niimberg, and is 40 miles S. from the latter. 



The prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein bos a territory of 252 square 

 milea, partly in Wiirtemberg and partly in Bavaria. Wallerstein, the 

 capital and residence of the prince, is a well-built market-town, with 

 1500 inhabitants. The prince's palace is a handsome building, and 

 contains a good library and a collection of paintings. 



OFEN. [BcDA.] 



OFFENBACH. [HMaE-DABMSTADT.] 



OPFIDA. [Ferho,] 



OQLIO, RIVER [AOSTRIA.] 



OHIO, one of the United States of North America, extends between 

 88° 24' and 42° N. lat, 80° 34' and 84° 42' W. long. It is bounded 

 E. by the state of Pennsylvania; S.E. and S. by the Ohio River, which 

 ■eparatea it from the states of Virginia and Kentucky; W. by Indiana; 

 M.W. by Michigan ; and N. by Lake Erie. The area is 39,964 square 

 milea. The population (only 45,365 in 1800) in 1850 was 1,980,329 

 (of whom 26,279 were free-coloured persons), or 49'55 to a square mile. 

 The inhabitants being all free, the federal representative population is 

 the same as the total population in 1850; this, according to the present 

 ratio of representation, entitles the state to send 21 representatives to 

 Congress, oeing the largest number next to New York and Pennsyl- 

 vania, and 8 more than Virginia, the state next in representative 

 rank. To the Senate, like each of the other states, Ohio sends 2 

 representatives. 



Surface and SoiL — The surface of this state may be divided into 

 OKOO, otv. TOL. m. 



two nearly equal portions, the Hilly and Prairie Regions; the Hilly 

 Region comprehending the eastern and southern districts, the Prairie 

 Repion the northern and western districts. 



The Hilly Region contains some level and low land extending about 

 a mile and a half along the banks of the Ohio. It is very fertile, 

 though in some parts swampy and subject to inundations. Behind 

 this level tract the country rises suddenly into steep hills, called the 

 River Mountains, which in general range between 300 and 500 feet 

 above the level of the river. From these hills the country extends 

 in an imeven hilly plain furrowed by valleys. Rocks rarely appeiu- on 

 the surface to any great extent. The genei-al elevation of these uplands 

 vaiica from 800 to 1000 feet above the sea-level. The bottoms along 

 th6 principal rivers, which are frequently extensive, are exceedingly 

 fertile, .ind produce very rich crops of grain. The declivities of the 

 hills, when not too steep for cultiv.ation, and the higher grounds 

 between them, are less fertile, but by no means barren. The soil of 

 both the bottoms and hills is almost uniformly an argilhiccous loam : 

 the soil of the valleys is very deep, and contains much lime and veget- 

 able mould. In its natural state the whole region is covered witli 

 trees, but though timber is still abundiint vast quantities have been 

 clcired away. 'The uplands contain different kinds of oak, hickory, 

 walnut, ash, poplar, dogwood, mulberry, sassafras, and some yellow 

 pine. The levels along the Ohio and the other rivers were in their 

 natural state overgrown with button-wood, white pine, hemlock, butter- 

 nut, the tulip-tree, locust, honey-locust, black alder, beech, elm, cedar, 

 and cypress. The maple-tree is common all over the state. 



The Prairie Region is an extensive undulating plain, the general 

 elevation of which hardly exceeds 1000 feet. A tract of slightly- 

 elevated upland forms the watershed between the rivers which run 

 southward to the Ohio and northward to Lake Erie. The surface of 

 this plain presents an alternate succession of woodlands and prairies. 

 In the eastern districts the woodlands prevail. The prairies are both 

 wet and dry, but are all fit for cultivation. Along the south-western 

 shores of I^ke Erie is an extensive tract covered with a deep swamp 

 called the Black Swamp, and swamps occur elsewhere also; but the 

 whole extent of swamp-land in the state only amounts to 303,320 acres. 

 A great part of the marshy and wet country is heavily wooded, especially 

 with beech. The valleys by which this table-land is intersected, and 

 in which the rivers flow, are less depressed below the surface of the 

 plain than farther south ; but they are broader and more regularly 

 defined, being separated from the adjacent uplands by parallel ranges 

 of bluffs, or mural banks. They are generally very fertile. Besides 

 beech, which is most common on the swiimpy tracts, this region 

 still contains lai^e quantities of oak, ash, elm, hickory, sugar-maple, 

 wild cherry, black walnut, poplar, and in some places cotton-wood 

 and sycamore, most of which, especially the sycamore, attain a 

 gigantic size. 



Hydrography, Communicaliom. — Ohio is in almost every part largely 

 provided with rivers and smaller streams, furnishing considerable 

 navigable facilities, and a vast amount of water-power for mechanical 

 purposes. The Ohio River runs along the eastern and southern 

 boundary-line of Ohio : it is described under Mississippi River. The 

 other rivers which drain this country, though comparatively small, 

 are of great importance as affording the means of establishing a very 

 extensive water-communication in the interior of the state, and between 

 the countries bordering on Lake Erie and on both sides of the Ohio 

 River. The most important of the rivers which fall into Lake Erie 

 are — the Maumee, the Sandusky, and the Cuyahoga. The Maumee is 

 formed by the union of the St Mary's, the Little St. Joseph's, and 

 the Auglaize rivers. The united river is about 100 miles long, and 

 navigable for 1 8 miles, to Perrysburg, by steamers and schooners : in 

 spring and fall it is navigable by river-boats to Fort Wayne in Indiana. 

 It empties itself into the western comer of Lake Erie by a wide mouth 

 called Maumee Bay. The SandusJci/ river originates in Richmond and 

 Crawford counties, in two branches which llow westward, and after 

 their union turn northward. Towards its mouth it declines to the 

 north-east, and falls into Sandusky Bay, a shallow sheet of water united 

 to Lake Erie by a narrow strait. Its length is about 100 miles, and 

 it is navigable for small boats at high water. The Cuyahoga is the 

 most important of the rivers which fall into Lake Erie, though its 

 course does not exceed 60 miles. It rises west of 81° W. long., about 

 10 miles from the shores of Lake Erie. It flows first in a southern and 

 south-western direction to 41° 8' N. lat, whore it takes a north-north- 

 westera course to Lake Erie, where its mouth forms the harbour of 

 Cleveland. In its natural state it was not navigable, but the waters 

 are used to feed the Erie and Ohio Canal. 



The most important rivers which fall into the Ohio are— the 

 Muskingum, Scioto, and Miami rivers. The Mutkingum rises near 

 41° N. lat, south of the southern bend of the Cuyahoga River, in two 

 branches, of which the eastern is called Tuscarawas Creek and the 

 western Chippewa Creek. By their union they form the Muskingum, 

 which has a length of about 120 miles, and falls into the Ohio at 

 Marietta. By means of locks and short cuttings it has been rendered 

 navigable to Dresden, 90 miles. The Scioto Itiver rises near 40° 30' 

 N. lat, and flowing southward nearly through the middle of the state, 

 falls into the Ohio at Portsmouth, after a course of about 250 miles. 

 It is navigable for large boats nearly 200 miles upward. The Miami 

 originates not far from the source of the .Scioto River, and runs in a 



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