53G O P O 
to improve his circumflances, lie married an old lady who 
was poflefi'ed of a good fortune, the whole of which 
would have ill compenfated for her crabbed temper ; ne- 
verthelefs, at her death, the property was transferred to 
other perfons. Hewasadvifed to dudyphyfic; and en¬ 
gaged himfelf as pupil and fecretary to the famous Pa- 
racelfus. This mailer promifed to communicate to him 
lome medical fecrets ; but, failing in the performance, 
Oporinus left him, and fet up a fchool for inflrubling 
young people in the dallies at Bafil. At length he went 
into the printing-bulinefs, in partnerlhip with a perfon 
named Robert Winter, who gave himfelf, according to the 
fafhion of the times, the Greek name of Chimerinus. He was 
indefatigable in his employment, keeping, by his foie la¬ 
bour, fix prelfes at work, and publifliingno book which he 
had not corrected himfelf. His indultry was not requited by 
good fortune : perhaps he was too much of a fcholar to be 
a luccefsful man of bulinefs. Both Winter and Autumn 
died in debt; the latter at the age of fixty-one. Being 
an accurate judge of manuferipts, he printed none but 
the moll valuable, and he took care that they Ihould ap¬ 
pear in the mod correct form. He was author of many 
excellent notes upon the books which he printed, and 
compiled very ufeful tables of contents and indexes of 
others. His principal writings were, i. Notes upon So- 
linus. 2. Scholia upon the Tufculan Quellions of Cicero; 
and alio upon other works of that author. 3. Notes 
upon fome parts of Demoflhenes. 4. Darii Tiberti Epi¬ 
tome Vitarum Plutarchi ab innumeris mendis repurgata. 
5. Propriorum Nominum Onomadicon. Some of his 
Latin Letters are printed in a Colledlion of Epidles pub- 
lidied at Utrecht in 1697. A Catalogue of the productions 
of his prefs, with his Life by Andrew Jocilcus, has been 
printed. Eloy. Did. Hijl. Med. 
OPORTO, or Porto, a city and fea-port of Portugal, 
in the province of Entre Duero e Minho ; fituated on 
the Duero, about a league from its mouth. The river 
forms a barred harbour, the entrance of which is diffi¬ 
cult and dangerous, and requires a pilot and great care 
to navigate a veflel, on account of lome fand-banks and 
rocks ; and is on this account fo fecure from approaches 
of an enemy by fea, that the Portuguefe government has 
not thought proper to fortify it in any degree complete, 
having only an old wall, five or fix feet thick, flanked, 
with here and there a mean tower; the other fortifica¬ 
tions are, a fmall fort with four baflions, and a half¬ 
moon. The road is fpacious, and will contain a large 
fleet: that from Brafil iometimes rides here. The town, 
as to its fituation, is uneven, but is in general handfome: 
next to Lilbon, it is the riched, mod populous, and mod 
commercial, town in the kingdom ; and, without any 
exception, is accounted the cleaned, and is well paved. 
Its commerce increafed after the earthquake at Lilbon: 
before that time, the population was edimated at 20,000 ; 
it is now faid to be near 40,000. Here are feven churches, 
feveral hofpitais, and twelve convents. The principal 
trade is in wine, of which upwards of 80,000 pipesare 
exported annually ; the Englifli are the chief cultomers. 
Here are feveral academies, and an arfenal for the fitting- 
out Ihips of war, which are built in the docks belonging 
to the town ; and the quay extends from one end of tiie 
city to the other. 
Immediately oppofite to Oporto, on the fouth bank of 
the Duero, is the appearance of a town not much fnialler 
than Oporto itfelf. To the wedward, along the declivity 
of a hill, are feveral detached houfes, forming the market- 
town of Gaya, a place remarkable both for its fituation 
and name. Here in former times a place called Cale, 
ipoken of by the ancients, is faid to have flood; but 
Oporto being afterwards built, as more convenient for 
fhips, by the greater depth of water along that bank, it 
was called Partus Cale, or the Harbour of Cale, whence 
was derived Portvcal, and at length Portugal. Thus, as 
it is faid, from this place the whole kingdom afterwards 
received its name. Portus Cale was in proceis of time 
O P o 
called 0 Porto, The Harbour, which name the town of 
Oporto afterwards received. Advancing to the eaflward, 
we come to a confiderable and populous town or villa, 
called Villanova do Porto, inhabited by the lower dalles 
of people ; whereas the rich more generally live in Oporto 
itfelf. Between Villanova and Gaya, on a fmall plain 
along the bank of the river, are the immenfe magazines 
wdiere wine is kept till it is exported. A mhnadery, on a 
high, and toward the river very deep, hill, completes the 
circle of the view to the eaflward. It is faid that fhe 
number of inhabitants at Gaya and Villanova, including 
the detached houfes reckoned as part of both places, 
amounts to about 20,000. The mountains along the 
north bank confid of granite in rocks: thofe along the 
fouth bank of dratified granite and mica-flate. Traces 
every-where appear of metallic veins of copper pyrites, 
malachite, and other metals; and along the fouth bank, 
particularly, a copper-mine might be opened with great 
profpeft of fuccefs. 
The climate of Oporto is in winter damp and foggy, in 
confequence of its mountainous and woody fituation ; 
whence alfo the air is cooler than elfewhere, though it 
leldom freezes. On the contrary, in fummer, the heat is 
great, both in this narrow valley and the town, which is 
fituated on a fouthern declivity. Here, as well as along 
the coads of Portugal, regular winds prevail in fummer; 
viz. in the morning the ead wind, veering about noon to¬ 
wards thefouth, and then to the wed; from which circum- 
flance navigation receives many advantages. The foil, 
though well cultivated, is not productive; but oranges 
are brought from Braga and Barcelos, wine from the 
Upper Duero; and, in ffiort, all thofe productions which 
bear the name of this town are not grown round it, though 
they are exported from hence. The gardens round 
Oporto are beautiful and pleafant; and the plants of the 
Cape, and of New Holland, grow in the open air, with 
gooleberries, currants, and other fruits of the colder 
countries of Europe, which are not leen round Lilbon. 
The politenefs and friendly difpofition of the people are 
much commended : their language abounds with dimi¬ 
nutives to an excefs that is often ridiculous. Their drefs 
fomewhat difters from that of the fouthern provinces; 
wooden llioes being here very common, though not found 
farther towards the fouth. Oporto is forty-nine miles 
north of Coimbra. Lat. 41. 11.N. Ion. 8. 19. W. 
OPOS'SUM,/. An American animal. See Didelphis. 
—Here is likewife that lingular animal called the opofjum, 
which leems to be the wood-rat mentioned by Charle¬ 
voix, in his liiflory of Canada. Guthrie. 
OPOL’'SCHNA, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of 
Konigingratz: fifteen miles north-ead of Konigingratz. 
OPOU'N, one of the Navigators’ Illands, in the South 
Pacific Ocean, fituated the mod eaderly, as well as mod 
l’outherly, of the group. This is alfo called Toomanua. • 
Lat. 14. 7. S. Ion. 169. 7. W. 
In this illand the iugar-caneis to be met with growing 
fpontaneouily ; but it is faid to contain lefs of the lac- 
charine lubdance than what is produced by careful culti¬ 
vation in the Wed Indies. The men are poflefled of un¬ 
common llrength, and tattoo their bodies in fuch a man¬ 
ner, that, although almofl naked, they have the appear¬ 
ance, at a little didance, of being clothed. Ferocity and 
treachery are charaCieriflic marks of this people, of which 
the unfortunate Peroufe had but too foon a melancholy 
proof, eleven out of fixty of his crew having been mur¬ 
dered by them, although received at firfl with an air of 
good-humour. This ought to ferve as a caution to fu¬ 
ture navigators, not to place implicit confidence in the 
apparent kindnefs of favages, which is frequently the 
dilinal prelude of ruin and deflruCtion. 
OP'PA, a river of Sileiia, which runs into the Oder 
fourteen miles fouth-ead of Troppau. 
OPPATO'W, a town of Moravia,in the circle of Iglau : 
fourteen miles fouth of Iglau. 
OPPAU'. See Troppau. 
OPPEAN', 
