723 
O R E ORE 
idea of dfftinguifhing himfelf ns a difcoverer of new re¬ 
gions, perfld foully deferted his commander and comrades, 
who were left in theutmoft diftrefs, and proceeded on a 
voyage, to be terminated only by the ocean to which 
the ftream he w.as navigating liiould bear him. He 
embarked in February 1541 ; and, having reached the 
wide channel of the' Maragnon from the Napo, he 
boldly committed himfelf to the current, without provi- 
fions, compafs, or pilot. The.part} 7 made frequent de- 
fcents on each bank, for the purpofe of procuring provi- 
fions, which they fometimes feized by force of arms, and 
fometimes obtained by friendly intercourfe with the gen¬ 
tler natives. At length, after many dangers and hard- 
fhip?>>incurred in a voyage of feven months, he reached 
the ocean, where he was in imminent danger of being 
loft. He however get fafe to the Spanifh fettlement 
in the ifland of Cubagua, whence he failed to Spain. 
He filled the ears of his countrymen with narratives of 
the wonders he met with in his expedition ; fuch as tem¬ 
ples of the Indians plated with gold, and a republic of 
women fo warlike, that they had extended their dominion 
overa wide trail of country. From this laft circumftance, 
grounded, it is faid, upon his meeting with a few female 
warriors, he gave the name of the River of Amazons to 
the Maragnon, by which laft appellation it was already 
in part known to the Spaniards. His own name has like- 
wife been affixed to it, efpecially by the poets, delighted 
by its lofty found. Thus our Thomfon : 
Swell’d by a thoufand ftreams, impetuous hurl’d 
From all the roaring Andes, huge defeends 
The mighty Orellana. Siafons. 
It does not appear that Orellana was ever called to ac¬ 
count for his defection ; probably the fubfequent ruin of 
the Pizarros fheltered him. Ten years afterwards, he 
was entrufted with the command of three veffels from 
Spain, with which be periftied, without having been able 
to dilcover the. true mouth of his river, llcberljun's Ame¬ 
rica. 
ORELLA'NA, a town of Spain, in tire province of 
Eftramadura, on the Guadiana : twenty-four miles eaft of 
Merida. 
ORELLA'NA, f. in botany. See Bixa. 
C'RELOOP. See Orlop. 
O'REM. See Ourem. 
Q'RENBU.RG, a town of Ruftia,. and capital of a pro¬ 
vince to which it gives name, in the government of Upha, 
on the Ural. The town and fortrefs of Orenburg was 
built in 1738, by order of the emprefs Anne, at the con¬ 
flux of the Or and Ural; but, that fstuation being found 
inconvenient, the inhabitants were removed, and the 
town built lower down on the Ural, in 1749. This town 
was deligned to protect the new fubjedfs who from time 
to time.put themfelves under the protection of the Ruf¬ 
fians, and to promote the trade with the people that live 
more tow-ards thefouth. Since the eftablifhment of a con- 
fiderable commerce here, all Ruffian and Afiatic mer¬ 
chants are permitted, on paying a certain duty, to fell 
their goods by wholefale and retail; and all European 
foreign merchants are allowed to bring their goods from 
the harbours and frontier-towns to Orenburg. It is 180 
miles foutii of Upha, and 971 fouth-eaft of Peterftnirg. 
Lat. 51.42. N. Ion. 55. 14. E. 
OREN'SE, Auria, or Aou^e Calidte, a city of Spain, 
in Galicia, fo ranked as the fee of a bifbpp, ft tu.a ted at 
the foot of a mountain, upon the left bank of the Minho. 
In the time of the Gothic princes, the bilhop was fuffra- 
gan to the archbiftiop of Braga in Portugal; but, after 
the invafion of the Moors, he became dependent on the 
archbiftiop of Compoftella. Its hot fprings were famous 
in ancient times; whence it obtained the name of“ Aquae 
Calidre and it is faid, that they have an efteit on the 
temperature of part of the town, and the adjacent coun¬ 
try. The town is fmall, but airy,and tolerably well built; 
its ftreets are ilraight, and its fquares regular. It has a 
cathedral and parifti church, and a chapter, the members 
of which are numerous. Here are alfo two convents of 
monks; one that belonged to the ancient Jefuits ; two 
chapels, a houfe of inftrudlion for girls, an hofpital for 
the fick poor, and an afylum. The population is calcu¬ 
lated at 2300 perfons. Here is a remarkable bridge of one 
arch, fo lofty that a (hip can pat’s under it. The plain of 
Qrcnfe is beautiful, pleafant, and fertile, abounding with 
excellent grapes and good fruits. It is thirty-fe’ven miles 
fouth-eaft of Compoftella. Lat. 42. 25. N. Ion. 7. 53. W. 
O'REO, a town of the ifland of Negropont: forty-four 
miles north-north-weft of Negropont. Lat. 39 7. N. Ion. 
23.18. E. 
OREOB'OLUS, f. [from the Gr. o^og, a mountain, and 
liaiXo;, a mafs, lump, or clod ; alluding to its place and 
form of growth.] In botany, a genus of the clnfs triati- 
dria, order monogynia, natural order calamarite, Linn. 
cyperoidece, Jnjff. cyperacece, Brown , (Prod. 235.) EJJbi- 
tial Character — Glumes two, fpathaceous, deciduous, 
including one floret, fometimes accompanied by an inner 
fcale; corolla (perianthium of Brown) in fix deep feg- 
ments, cartilaginous, remaining after the fall of the fruit; 
ftyle deciduous; ftigmas three; nut cruftaceous. 
Oreobolus pumilio, a Angle fpecies. Gathered by Mr. 
Brown in Van Diemen’s Land. A dwarf-plant, forming 
broad denfe convex tufts, on the fummits of the moun¬ 
tains. Stems divided in the lower part, denfely clothed 
with imbricated, ftraight, fheathing, ribbed, fpreading,-. 
linear, leaves, dilated at their bale. Stalks axillary, fnort, 
comprefied, Angle-flowered. The glumes compofe a two- 
valved two-edged fiieath. 
OREOCALL'IS, f. [fo named by Mr. Brown, from the 
Gr, a mountain, and y.uXo;, beautiful.] In botany; a 
genus of the clafs tetrandria,. order monogynia, natural 
order proteaceae, Jnff] EJJerdial Character —Corolla irre¬ 
gular, fplit on one fide, four-toothed. Stamens funk in 
concave tips of the corolla; nectariferous gland, none; 
germen flalked ; fligma oblique, orbicular, dilated, rather 
concave; follicle cylindrical. Seeds numerous, with a 
terminal wing. 
Oreocallis grandiflora, a folifary fpecies; the Embo- 
thrium grandiflorum of Lamarck, ii, 354. Native of ‘J'e 
colder mountains of Peru. A perfeCfly-fmooth fhrub, 
twelve feet high. Stem eredf, branched, the branches 
round, granulated. Leaves fcattered, flalked, elliptic- 
oblong, Four inches in length, coriaceous, flighrly revo¬ 
lute, entire, emarginate, with a minute point, Angle- 
ribbed, with many tranfverfe veins. Chillers terminal, 
folitary, ereft, denfe, of numerous rofe-coloured flowers 
in pairs, each pair with a minute bradte at the bafe of 
their partial ftalks, but no general involucrum. This- 
fpendid plant.flowers in September and Gilo her, when it 
is ufed to ornament the temples and idols of the Peru¬ 
vians. Its habit is altogether like that of the Embo- 
thrium coccineum of Fbrfter and Linnaeus, and’of the 
E. fpeciofiffimum of Smith, New Hoik Bot. t. 7. Sims in 
Curt. Mag. t. 1128. We think there ought to be no 
generical difumon of thefe plants, though the prefent 
wants the nectariferous gland beneath the germen,. which 
the others have. The article Lomatia alfo, vol. xiii. con¬ 
tains plants which ought to be united to the fame genus. 
See that article; and Embothrium, vol. vi. The prefer^ 
fpecies is deferibed by Mr. Brown, in a very interefting 
paper on the Prolacese of Juflieu, in the Linn. Tranf. 
vcl. x. p 196. 
ORE'ON, J. A name given by the ancients to a kind 
of horle-tail which they found growing on the mountains 
in wet and damp places. It is to this fpecies that many 
authors have attributed the principal virtues of the ge¬ 
nus; and this feems to have been the fame with our great 
river liorfe-tail. Neophytus fays, that it rofe up with a 
Angle ftalk refembling a young reed, and that this was 
compofed of feveral joints, which, in the manner of 
cups, were inferted one into another; that from thefe 
joints the leaves grew, and that they refembled thofe of 
the 
