O V I 
O V I 
O V 1 
323 
spermia class and order. The cal. is five- 
cleft ; cor. tube subylindric, superior, very 
long ; berry globular. There are two spe- 
cies, shrubs of South America. 
QVER-IIALE, in the sea language. A 
rope is said to be overhaled when drawn too 
Stiff, or haled the contrary way. 
Over-rake, among seamen : when a ship 
riding at anchor, so overheats herself into 
a head-sea, that she is washed by the 
waves breaking in upon her, they say the 
waves over-rake her. 
OVERSEERS of the poor. The proper 
number of overseers of the poor for each 
parish, must be duly appointed, and sworn 
before two justices of the peace, one whereof 
must be of the quorum. 
The overseers thus appointed, and taking 
on t hem the office, shall within fourteen days, 
receive ’the books of assessments, and of 
accounts, from their predecessors, and what 
money and materials shall be in their hands, 
and reimburse them for their arrears. 17 
Geo. N. c. 38. 
And shall take order from time to time, 
with the consent of two such justices as 
aforesaid, for setting to work the children of 
such parents who shall not by the said over- 
seers be thought able. to keep or maintain 
them, and using no ordinary or daily trade 
of life to get their living by. 43 Eliz. c. 2. 
By the 17 Geo. II. c. 38. if any person 
shall be aggrieved by any thing done or 
omitted by the churchwardens and overseers, 
or by any of hi? majesty’s justices of the 
peace, he may, giving reasonable notice to 
the churchwardens or overseers, appeal to 
the next, general or quarter-sessions, where 
the same shall be heard, or finally determin- 
ed ; but if reasonable notice is not given, 
then they shall adjourn the appeal to the 
next general or quarter-sessions ; and the 
court may award reasonable costs to either 
party, as they may do by 8 and 9 W. in 
case of appeals concerning settlements. See 
Poor. 
OVERT ACT. In the case of treason 
in compassing or imagining the death of the 
king, this imagining must be manifested by 
some open act; otherwise being only an act 
of the mind, it cannot fall under any judicial 
cognizance. Bare words are held not to 
amount to an overt act, unless put into writ- 
ing, in which case they are then held to be 
an overt act, as arguing a more deliberate 
intention. No evidence shall be admitted 
©f any overt act, that is not expressly laid in 
the indictment. 7 W. c. 3. 
OVIS, sheep, a genus of quadrupeds of 
the order pecora: the generic character is, 
horns hollow, wrinkled, turning backwards, 
and spirally intorted ; front-teeth, eight in 
the lower jaw ; canine-teeth, none. 
1. Ovis amnion, argali. As the capra rega- j 
grus, or Caucasan ibex, is supposed to "be ! 
the original of the domestic goat, so the ovis I 
amnion, argali, or musimon, is believed to be 
the chief primaeval stock from which all the 
kinds of domestic sheep have proceeded ; 
many of which differ full as widely both 
from each other and their archetype as the 
goats. 
Argali, or wild sheep, is an inhabitant of ! 
rocky or mountainous regions, and is chiefly ! 
found in the alpine parts of Asia. It was first 
observed by Dr. Pallas throughout the vast , 
chain of mountains extending through the 
middle of the continent to the Eastern sea. 
In Kamtschatka il is plentiful ; it occurs 
also in Barbary, in the mountains of Greece, 
and in the islands of Corsica and Sardinia; 
differing merely in a few slight particulars 
of colour and size, according to its climate. 
The general size of the argali is that of a 
small fallow deer. Its colour is a greyish 
ferruginous brown above, and .whitish "be- 
neath ; the face is also whitish, and behind 
each shoulder is often observed a dusky spot 
or patch ; the legs, at least in the European 
kind, are commonly white ; the head strong- 
ly resembles that of a ram, but the ears are 
smaller in proportion, the neck more slender; 
the body large ; the limbs slender butstrong; 
the tail very short, being hardly more than 
three inches in length ; the horns in the full- 
grown or old animals, are extremely large, 
placed on the top of the head, and stand 
close at their base, rising first upwards, and 
then bending down and twisting outwards as 
in the common ram ; the body is covered 
with hair instead of wool, in which particular 
consists its chief difference from the general 
aspect of a sheep ; but in winter the face, 
and particularly the part about .the tip of 
the nose, becomes whiter, the back of a more 
ferruginous cast, and the hair, which in sum- 
mer is close, like that of a deer, becomes 
somewhat rough, wavy, and a little curled, 
consisting of a kind of wool intermixed with 
hair, and concealing at its roots a tine white 
woolly down ; the hair about the neck and 
shoulders, as well as under the throat, is con- 
siderably longer than on the other parts. The 
female is inferior in size to the male, and has 
smaller and less curved horns. 
In Siberia the argali is chiefly seen on the 
tops of the highest mountains exposed to 
the sun, and free from woods. The animals 
generally go in small flocks ; they produce 
their young in the middle of March, and 
have one, and sometimes two, at a birth. 
The young, when first born, are covered with 
a soft, grey, curling fleece, which gradually 
changes into hair towards the end of sum- 
mer. 
The horns of the old males grow to a vast 
size, and have been found of the length of 
two Russian yards, measured along the 
spires ; weighing fifteen pounds each. We 
are assured by father Rubruquis, a traveller 
in the thirteenth century, that he had seen 
some of the horns so large that he could 
hardly lift a pair with one hand, and that 
the Tartars make great drinking-cups of 
them. A more modern traveller lias asserted, 
that young foxes occasionally shelter them- 
selves in such as are here and there found in 
the deserts. 
In Corsica, the argali is known by the 
name of mufro ; where it is so wild as rarely 
to be taken alive, but is shot by the hunt- 
ers, who lie in wait for it among the moun- 
tains. When the young are taken, however, 
which is sometimes the case when the parent 
is shot, they are observed to be very readily 
tamed. 
From the above description it will suffi- 
ciently appear, that the wild sheep is by no 
means that seemingly helpless animal which 
we view in a state of confinement in artificial 
life ; but in the highest degree active and 
vigorous, ft is supposed to five about four- 
teen years. 
2. Ovis aries, the common sheep. This ani- 
mal is so generally known, that a particular 
description of its form and manners becomes 
unnecessary. The domestic sheep, in its 
most valuable or woolly state, exists hardly 
any where in perfection except in Europe, 
and some of tiie temperate parts of Asia. 
When transported into very warm climates, 
jt loses its peculiar covering, and appear 
coated with hair, having only a short wool 
next the skin. In very cold climates also, 
the exterior part of the wool is observed to 
be hard and coarse, though the interior is 
more soft and fine. In England, and some 
other European regions, the wool acquires a 
peculiar length and fineness, and is best- 
adapted to the various purposes of commerce. 
That of Spain is still finer, but less .proper 
for using alone ; and is mixed with the 
English tor the superior kinds of clotb. 
Of all the domestic, animals, none is so 
subject to various disorders as the sheep. 
Of these, one of the most extraordinary, 
well as the most fatal, is the rot, owing to 
vast numbers of worms, of the genus fasciola, 
which are found in the liver and gall-bladder’ 
I hey are of a flat form, of an oval shape, 
with slightly pointed extremities, and bear a 
general resemblance to the seeds of a gourd. 
3. Ovis strepsciccros, Cretan sheep ; this 
variety is principally found in the island of 
Crete, and is kept in several parts of Europe* 
for the singularity of its appearance ; the 
horns being very large, long, and twisted in 
the maimer of a screw ; those of the male 
are upright, those of the female at right- 
angles to the head. This animal is ranked 
as a distinct species in the Systema Nature. 
See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 306." 
4. Ovis Guineensis, African sheep. This, 
which is sometimes termed the Cape sheep, 
and which is erroneously mentioned in Buf- 
fon s Natural History as of Indian extraction, 
is supposed to be most frequent in Guinea, 
and is distinguished from others by its re- 
markably meagre appearance, length of neck 
and limbs, pendant ears, and long arched 
or curved visage. It is covered rather with 
hair than wool, and has a pair of pendant 
hairy wattles beneath the neck, as in goats. 
The horns are small, and the tail long- and 
lank. 1 his variety is also considered as a 
distinct species in the twelfth edition of the 
Systema Natural. See Plate Nat. Hist fms 
307, 308. ° 
5. Ovis laticaudata, broad-tailed sheep ; 
this extraordinary and awkward variety oc- 
curs in Syria, Barbary, and Ethiopia. It is 
also found in Tartarv, Tibet, &c. Its 'ge- 
neral appearance, as' to other parts of the 
body, scarcely differs from that of the Eu- 
ropean sheep, and in Tibet it is remarkable 
for the exquisite fineness of its wool. The 
tails of these sheep sometimes grow so large, 
long, and heavy, as to weigh, according to* 
some reports, from fifteen to fifty pounds ; 
anti in order to enable the animal to graze 
with convenience, the shepherds are often 
obliged to put a board, furnished with small 
wheels, under the tail. This part of the 
sheep is of a substance resembling marrow, 
and is considered as a great delicacy. 
o. Ovis pudu. dins is a newly discovered 
species, having been first described by Mo- 
lina, in his Natural History of Chili'. H e 
•informs us that it is a native of the Andes • 
