0 S B 
E 03 
O S A 
OS, or Oss, a town of Brabant: ten miles north-eaft 
of Bois le Due. 
O'SA, a river of Etruria* which runs into the fea in 
lat. 42. 38. N. Ion. 11. 12. E. 
O'SA, a town of Ruffia, in the government of Perm, 
on the Kama: eighty miles fouth- weft of Perm. Lat. 56. 
56. N* Ion. 53. 54. E. 
O'SA Dii la VE'GA, a town of Spain, in New Caftile: 
thirty-fix miles fouth of Huete. 
OSAC'CA, a feaport-town of Japan, in the ifland of 
Niphon ; and, next to the two capitals, Meaco and Jeddo, 
the molt conliderable for riches, grandeur, and popula¬ 
tion. It is fituated in a large bay, to which it gives 
name, near the mouth of the river Jedogawa, which is 
here as large as the Thames at London. The port is de¬ 
fended by a ftrong caftle on the north-eaft end, fo as to 
command both the city and river. It has always a nu¬ 
merous garrifon, and abounds with all forts of provifions 
and merchant!ife. The neighbouring country affords a 
fort of earth of a beautiful orange-colour, with which 
they cover their houfes, and great quantities of it are 
conveyed into other parts of the empire for the lame pur- 
pofe. It is twenty-five miles'fouth-weft of Meaco. Lat. 
35. S. N. 
OSA'DA, a fmall ifland in the Sooloo Archipelago. 
Lat. 6. 5. N. Ion. 120. 28. E. 
OSA'GE, a river of Louifiafla, which runs into the 
Miffiflippi in lat. 38. 26. N. Ion. 92.48. E. 
OSA'GE, a town of Louifiana, on a river fo called: 
150 miles weft of St. Genevieve. Lat. 38. 3. N. Ion. 93. 
46. W. 
The Olage-river gives, or owes, its name to a nation in¬ 
habiting its banks. Their prefent name however feems 
to have originated from the French traders; for, both 
among themfelves and their neighbours, they are called 
the Wttjhbafnas. Their number is between twelve and 
thirteen hundred warriors, and theyconfift of threetribes : 
the Great Ofages, of about five hundred warriors, living 
in a village on the fouth bank of the river; the Little 
Ofages, of nearly half that number, refiding at the dif- 
tance of fix miles from them ; and the Arkanfaw band, 
a colony of Ofages, of fix hundred warriors, who left 
them fome years ago, under the command of a chief called 
the Bigfoot, ancl fettled on the Vermilion-river, a branch 
of the Arkanfaw. 
In perfon, the Ofages are among the largeft and beft- 
formed Indians, and are faid to ppffefs fine military ca¬ 
pacities; but, refiding as they do in villages, and having 
made confiderable advance in agriculture, they feent lei's 
addicted to war than their northern neighbours, to whom 
the ufe of rifles gives a great fuperiority. Among the 
peculiarities of this people, there is nothing more remark¬ 
able than the tradition relative to their origin. Accord¬ 
ing to univerfal belief, the founder of the nation was a 
fnail, palling a quiet exiftence along the banks of the 
Ofage, till a high flood fwept him down to the Miffouri, 
and left him expofed on the (bore. The heat of the fun 
at length ripened him into a man ; but, with the change 
of his nature, he had not forgotten his native feats on the 
Ofage, towards which he immediately bent his way. He 
was however loon overtaken by hunger and fatigue, wdien 
happily the Great Spirit appeared, and, giving him a bow 
and arrow, fliowed him how to kiil and cook deer, and 
cover himfelf with the flein. He then proceeded to his 
original refidence; but, as he approached the river, he 
was met by a beaver, who inquired haughtily who he was, 
and by what authority he came to difturb his poffcflion. 
The Ofage anfwered that the river was his own, for he 
had once lived on its borders. As they flood difputing, 
the daughter of the beaver came; and having by her en¬ 
treaties reconciled her father to this young ftranger, it 
was propofed that the Olage fliould marry the young 
beaver, and (hare with her family the enjoyment of the 
river. The Ofage readily confented ; and from this happy 
union there loon came the village and the nation of the 
Walhbafhas, or Ofages, wftio for a long time preferved « 
pious reverence^ for their anceftors, abftaining from the 
chafe of the beaver, becaufe in killing that animal they 
killed a brother. Of late years, however, lince the trade 
with the whites has rendered beaver-fleins more valuable, 
the fan&ity of thefe maternal relatives has vifibly dimi- 
nilhed, and the poor animals have nearly loft all the pri¬ 
vileges of kindred. Travels to the Source of the SJijjouri, 
by order of the American Government, by Captains 
Lewis and Clarke, in 1805. 
OSA'RA, a town of Japan, in the ifland of Niphon. 
Lat. 35. 10. N. Ion. 136. 40. E. 
OSA'RA or Asara, a town of Syria, in the defert, 
near the Euphrates : feventy miles north-weft of Ana, 
and 170 eaft-louth-eaft of Aleppo. 
OSBAN'IKET, a town of Turkeftan, on the Sirr: 
thirty miles weft of Toncat. 
OSBECK'IA, f. [fo named by Linnaeus, in honour of 
his difciple Peter Olbeck, a Swedifli clergyman, who per¬ 
formed a voyage to China, as chaplain to a Swedifli Eaft- 
Indiaman, and pubiiihed an account of his voyage, par¬ 
ticularly of his obfervations in natural hiftory, which has 
been tranflated- into German and Englifh. The author 
was living, a few years fince, at an advanced age, as a 
country clergyman in Sweden, nor have we heard of his 
death. He has contributed feveral papers on fillies, in¬ 
fers, and various economical plants, to the Stockholm 
Yranfaflions.] In botany, a genus of the clafs oftandria, 
order monogynia, natural order of calycanthemae, (me- 
laftomae, Juj]'.) Generic characters—Calyx : perianthium 
one-leafed, bell-ftiaped, permanent; border four-parted, 
deciduous ; lobes oblong, acute, with a ciliate icalelet 
interpofed between the lobes. Corolla : petals four, 
roundifli, fefiile, longer than the calyx. Stamina: fila¬ 
ments eight, filiform, fliort; antherse oblong, ereCt, ter¬ 
minated by a filiform beak, the length of the anther it- 
felf. Piftillum : germ inferior, ovate, faftened to the 
calyx below,' terminated at top by four ciliate feales : 
ftyle awl-fliaped, the length of the ftamens ; ftigma Am¬ 
ple. Pericarpium : capfuie clothed wdth the truncated 
tube of the calyx, fubovate, four-celled, the cells gaping 
longitudinally at the top. Seeds very many, roundifli. 
Receptacle crefcent-lhaped, (wide, compreffed, Gartner.) 
—Ejjeniutl CharaSter. Calyx four cleft, with the lobes 
feparated by a ciliary fcale, (or five-cleft wdthout inter¬ 
calated feales, G.) Corolla four or five petalled ; ltamina 
eight or ten ; antherao beaked ; capfuie inferior, lour or 
five celled, furrounded by the truncated tube of the calyx. 
There are feven fpecies, in two divifions. 
I. Flowers four-cleft, with eight ftamens. 
1. Olbeckia Chinenfis, or Chinefe olbeckia : leaves fef- 
file, peduncles axillary, three flowered, brafted. Root 
perennial, woody, fometimes confiding of a little knob 
with branches. Stems quadrangular, the thicknel's of a 
packthread, feldom exceeding half a yard in length, ge¬ 
nerally branched, and fometimes like a little bulb. The 
branches, which are quadrangular and fomewhat hairy, 
are commonly oppofite, and Angle, or not divided. -On 
the top are commonly two flowers, furrounded with four 
leaves, two of which are Ihort, but longer than the flowers. 
The leaves are oppofite; each couple is an inch or more 
from the other, and, the nearer to the flower, the farther 
they are afunder: they are fomewhat obtufe in young 
plants, and about an inch long; but, in old ones, they are 
longer, and flump; thofe which grow at the bottom of 
the branches are frequently as long again as the others. 
The capfuie looks like a little pot or pitcher, running 
narrower to the bottom. Seeds fmall, in a microfcope 
looking like little worms lying in a circular form. 
According to Linnaeus, it has the habit of Melaftoma. 
Stem ereft, bracliiate, acutely-quadrangular. Leaves 
narrow-lanceolate, three-nerved, oppofite, rugged, fub- 
felfile. Flowers terminating, few, lefiile, furrounded by 
four leaves, longer than the flower, and lpreading. Lou- 
rciro 
