O S T 
takings. As they have no regular priefts, every old man 
nuy devote himfelf to that fervice ; and the office is fre¬ 
quently performed by the mafters and heads of families. 
Strahlenberg fays that, when he was among them, he faw 
one of their temples, which was built of wood in an ob¬ 
long form, like a great barn, covered at the top with 
birch-bark. At the end of the wall fupporting the gable 
was a kind of altar, made of timber, on which were 
placed two idols, reprefenting a man and woman, dreffed 
in all forts of tawdry rags; and round thefe were other 
fmall figures, as deer, foxes, and hares, all which were 
roughly carved in wood, and alfo clothed. They did not 
appear to have much devotion, ncr any great reverence 
for their idols. When they offer facrifices, they prefent 
the beaft to the idol ; and, having bound it, an old man 
puts up the petitions of thofe who brought the offering ; 
he then lets fly 311 arrow at the beaft, afid the people affifi 
in killing it. It is then drawn three times round the 
idol; and, the blood being received into a veffel, they 
fprinkle it on their houfes; they afterwards drefs the flefh 
and eat it, rejoicing and finging their country-fongs : they 
alfo befmear the idol with the blood of the facrifice, and 
greafe their mouths with the fat. What they cannot eat 
they carry home to their families, and make prefents of it 
to their neighbours: they as often facrifice a fifli as a beaft. 
At the Conclufion of the feaft they fhout, to fhow their 
gratitude to the idol for his attending and accepting their 
devotions; for they are perfuaded that the faint or hero 
reprefented by the image always attends their facrifices, 
and that, when they are over, he returns to his abode in 
theffir. 
The Oftiaks are obliged to take an oath of fidelity to 
the Ruffian government; and on thefe occafions they ufe 
the following ceremony. After laying down a bear-fkin 
and an axe, and holding over it a piece of bread on a knife, 
they fay, “ In cafe I do not to my life’s end prove true and 
faithful to the fupreme government of the country, or if 
I knowingly and willingly break through my allegiance, 
or be wanting in the duty I owe to the faid fupreme go¬ 
vernment, may the bear tear me to pieces in the wood ; 
may the bread I eat ftick in my throat and choke me 5 
may the knife ftab me, and the axe cut off my head.” 
OSTIA'NO, a town of Italy: twelve miles north-eaft 
of Cremona. 
OSTIA'NY, a town of Lithuania, in the palatinate of 
Wilna: forty Vniles fbuth eaft of Wilna. 
OS'PIARY, /i [ojlivm, from os, mouth, Lat] The 
opening at wliich a river difembogues itfelf.-—It is re¬ 
ceived that the Nilus hath feven oftiai ies; that, is by feven 
channels difburtheneth itfelf into the fea. Brawn. —For¬ 
merly an ecclefiaftical officer.—The office of the ojliarie 
was to open and fliut the church-doors, to look to the de¬ 
cent keeping of the church, and the holy ornaments laid 
up in the veftrie. Weever. 
OS'TICO, a fmall lake of America, in Onondago- 
county, New York, which fends its waters from the north 
end by a ftream of fixteen miles long to Salt-lake. 
OSTIGL'IA, a town of Italy : ten miles eaft-fouth-eaft 
of Mantua. 
OSTIMU'RI, a town of New Mexico, in the province 
of Hiaqui: forty miles eaft of Riochico. Lat. 29.12. N. 
Ion. 110. 56. W. 
OS'TINGHAUSEN, a town of Germany, in Weft- 
phalia : eight miles weft of Lippftadt, and four north-eaft 
of Werl. 
OS’TINS TOWN, or Char'les Town, a town of the 
ifland of Barbadoes. 
OSTIO'NES, a fmall ifland in the Pacific Ocean, near 
the coaft of America. Lat. 4.10. N. 
OSTIS'CO, or Os'tico, a lake of New York: eight 
miles fouth-weft of Onondago Caftle. 
OST'LER, f. [hofielier , Fr.] The man who takes care 
of horfes at an inn.—The fmith, the ojller, and the boot- 
catcher, ought to partake. Swift. 
O S T 23 
OST'LERY,/! [ hojielerie , Fr.] The place belonging to 
the oftler. 
OST'MEN, f. jtl. [i. e. Ea/lmen, as coming from a 
country eaft of Ireland. OJlmanni, low Lat.] Danifh fer- 
tlers in Ireland.—Anlave was chief of the O/imen in that 
ifland, and ftyled king of Dublin. Ld. Lyttelton. 
GS'TRACH, a village of the grand duchy of Baden, 
in the territory of Salmanfweiler: five miles north-eaft of 
Pfullendorf. 
OS'TRACFI, a river of Germany, which runs into the 
Danube about a mile below Scheer. 
OSTRA'CION, f. the Trunk Fish; in ichthyology, 
a genus of the order branchioftegi. Generic characters— 
Teeth round, pointing forwards, blunt; aperture of the 
gills linear; body mailed by a complete bony covering; 
no ventral fins. 
This genus of fifties is eafily diftinguiflied by a hard 
bone or (hell covering the whole body except the tail. 
They refenible confequently the tortoife, but efpecially 
the echini; for, like thefe, their armour is in divifions 
ornamented with pearly tubercles; and, like the former, 
their (hells are occafionally filed, or come away in tlje 
dreffing. Thefe bony plates generally have an hexagonal 
form, decorated with radiated figures or a flight network. 
The head is truncated ; the mouth is fmall, opening at 
the extremity ; the teeth are blunt, (landing clofe toge¬ 
ther, and of an orange-colour; the lips are movable, and 
red ; the tongue is ftxort, fixed, and fmooth, as is the pa¬ 
late. The eyes are at the top of the head, near together, 
with a bony ledge or eyebrow hanging over, to proteCi 
them from accidents; thefe ledges form a furrow on the 
top of the head. The noftrils are fmall and long, fome- 
times Angle, fometimes double, and near the eyes. The 
gill-aperture is long, narrow, and curved. The back is 
(harp, and arched in fome fpecies, and in others it is broad, 
d’he, (ides are very long, high, and comprefled above. 
The furface of the beily is broad and long; and the vent 
is near the tail-fin. The tail is naked, fmooth, and mo¬ 
vable, below the round furrow which is feen on each fide 
the (hell. There is no appearance of lateral line or of 
(cales. They have five fins ; two peClorals under the 
aperture of the gills, which, having the fame direction as 
in the Diodon mola, or fun-fifli, cannot affift its progref- 
five motion, but only enable it to keep a balance, or to 
turn on one fide; but, the tail being at liberty, the fifli 
can, by its'means, turn any way, or go forwards ; for this 
organ, which is very ftrong, performs the office of peCto- 
ral and tail fin in mod fifli, and of dorfid and tail in the 
fun fifli. The other three fins are the dorfal, anal, and 
tail ; the two firft are fmall, like the peClorals ; but the 
fin of the tail is large. The fins are all of a round figure, 
with branched rays; ventral fins, none. Thefe are car¬ 
nivorous fifli, and haunt the Eaft and Weft Indian Seas, 
and the Red Sea. Their flefh is little in quantity, but 
well-tafted. Gmelin’s Linnaius has ten fpecies, Turton’s 
twelve; Cepede has fifteen, of which he makes four di¬ 
vifions. 
1. Oftracion triqueter, the fmooth trunk-fiffi. Specific 
character, the body triangular and without fpines, the 
pieces of (hell convex. There are 17 rays in the peCtoral 
fins, 12 in the anal, 14 in the tail, and 11 in the dorfal. 
The under is the narrowed of the three fides ; all three 
are broad in the middle, and diminifti towards the extre¬ 
mities ; they form together an acute angle, and a convex 
rim at the back and belly; the lower rims are fmooth and 
blunt, the upper one (harp and uneven. If the fi(h be 
cut in pieces direCtly through, or from back to belly, each 
piecb forms a triangle, not entirely regular. The (hell is 
in hexagonal pieces rifing up towards the middle, upon 
each of which is a white tubercle. The noftrils are long, 
and near the eyes. The pupil of the eye is black, in a 
white iris inclofed in a yellow circle. The body is of a 
red-brown; the fins yellow. The tail is long, orna¬ 
mented with round white fpots edged with dark-brown. 
The . 
