58 
O T T 
OT'TENGRUN, a town of Saxony, in the Vogtland : 
fix miles fouth-w.eft of Oelfnitz. 
OT'TENGRUN, a town of Germany, in the princi¬ 
pality of Culmbach : two miles north of Munchberg. 
OT'TENHEIM, a town of Auftria, on the north fide 
of the Danube: five miles weft-north-well: of Lintz, and 
fixteen fouth-weft of Freyftatt. 
OT'TENHOF, a town of Germany, in the principality 
of Culmbach: two miles fouth of Lauenftein. 
OT'TENSCHLAG, a town of Auftria: feven miles 
fouth of Zwetl. 
OT'TENSEN, a village of Holftein, on the right bank 
of the Elbe. At this place the duke of Brunfwick died 
of the wounds he received at the battle of Jena, in 1807 : 
two miles weft of Altona. 
OT'TENSTAIN, a town of Auftria: eight miles eaft 
of Zwetl. 
OT'TENSTEIN, a town of Germany, in the bilhopric 
of Munfter: twenty-five miles weft-north-weft of Munfter. 
OT'TER, J\ [oreja, Sax. lutra , Lat.] An amphibious 
animal that preys upon fiih. See Mustela. —The toes 
of the otter's hinder feet, for the better fwimming, are 
joined together with a membrane, as in the bevir ; from 
which he differs principally in his teeth, which are canin ; 
and in his tail, which is felin, or a long taper; fo that he 
may not be unfitly called putoreus equations, or the water- 
polecat. He makes himfelf burrows on the w’ater-fide, as 
a bevir is fometimes tamed and taught, by nimbly fur- 
rounding the fifties, to drive them into the net. Greio. 
Would you preferve a numerous finny race? . 
Let your fierce dogs the ravenous otter chafe ; 
The amphibious monfter ranges all the lhores, 
Darts through the waves, and every haunt explores. Gap. 
OT'TER, an ifland in the North Sea, on the coaft of 
Norway, at the mouth of Romfdal Bay. Lat. 62. 45. N. 
Ion. 7. 9. E. 
OT'TER, a river of England, which runs into the fea 
about five miles eaft of Exmouth. 
OT'TER (John), profeflor of Arabic at Paris, was 
born in 1707, at Chriftianftad in Sweden, where his father, 
by commercial fpeculations, had amafied confiderable pro¬ 
perty. In 1724, he was fent to the high fchool of Lund, 
where he applied alfo to natural philofophy and theology, 
under the direftion of Rhydelius, the bilhop of that 
place ; but, by private intercourfe with perfons of the ca¬ 
tholic perfuaiion, and the reading of catholic books, he 
began to entertain lotne fcruples in regard to the refor¬ 
mation introduced by Luther ; which induced him to re¬ 
pair to Stockholm, in order that he might have his doubts 
cleared up. A few months after, he abjured the Lu¬ 
theran tenets; and count de Brancas, French ambaflador 
at the Swedilh court, refolved to fend this new convert 
to France. Otter was admitted into the feminary of 
Rouen ; and, after a refidence of three years, was called 
* to Paris by cardinal Fleury, the minifter, who gave him 
an appointment in the poft-office: a fituation for which 
lie was exceedingly well qualified, by an exteniive know¬ 
ledge of modern languages. Having foon recommended 
liimfelf by his talents and afliduity to the notice of count 
Maurepas, that nobleman determined to fend him to the 
eaft, in order that he might make himfelf mafter of the 
oriental languages; and at the fame time difeover the 
belt means of reviving the French trade in Perfia. In 
confequence of orders from the court, he embarked at 
Marfeilles in January 1734, and arrived at Conftantinople 
in the March following. His principal objefit, while in 
this capital, was to learn the Turkifh and Arabic lan¬ 
guages ; and, for that purpofe, he frequented the com¬ 
pany of the moft learned men in the city, whether Ar¬ 
menians or Turks, and particularly that of Ibrahim Ef- 
fendi, a celebrated writer on geography, known by his 
works, and by the eftablilhment of a printing-office at 
Conftantinople. In the courfeof a little time he had ac¬ 
quired the principles of the Arabic; and was fo com¬ 
pletely mafter of the Turkifli, that he found himfelf in a 
O T T 
condition to continue his journey to Perfia; which he 
did in December 1736. • After a journey of nearly eight 
months, he reached Ifpahaq, which at that- time exhi¬ 
bited a moft melancholy fpe&acle, having been reduced 
almoft to a heap of ruins by the fury of the Afghans, who 
had over-run the whole empire. The fituation of the 
empire at that period deterring Otter from making any 
attempts towards the re-eftabliffiment of the French trade 
in Perfia, he confined himfelf to the fecond objefif of his 
journey, which was to make himfelf acquainted with the 
Perfian and other eaftern languages. After a refidence of 
twenty months at Ifpahan, he fet out, in April 1739, f° r 
Buftora on the Perfian gulf, which at that time was fub- 
jefl to the dominion of Achmed pacha of Bagdad, who 
ruled with unlimited fway, though a vafial of the grand- 
fignior. As the commerce of this town had rifen to a 
moft flourifhing ftate on the ruins of the Perfian trade. 
Otter flattered himfelf with the hope that the pacha, who 
was accounted one of the greateft politicians of his tune, ' 
would readily liften to the propofals, which he had not 
ventured to make to the Perfian ufurper; and with that 
view he proceeded to Bagdad. Here he foon procured ac- 
cefs to the pacha ; and, having met with a cordial recep¬ 
tion, he tranfmitted an account of his fuccefs to the mar¬ 
quis de Viileneuve, the French ambaflador at Conftanti¬ 
nople, by whole means a treaty, favourable to the willies 
of the French government, was at length concluded. 
Otter then embarked on the Tigris, and returned toBuf- 
forah, where he refidedall together nearly four years, firft 
in a private capacity, and then as conful of the French 
nation. 
The commotions by which Perfia had been agitated 
fpreading at length to Bulforah, the fpirit of infurreftion 
rofe to fuch a height, that, in the year 1741, the neigh¬ 
bouring Arabs, throwing off all reftraint, appeared in a 
ftate of open rebellion. Belides keeping the town block¬ 
aded for nearly two months, they plundered the mer¬ 
chants, and committed every kind of excefs, in the neigh¬ 
bouring diftrift. Otter, who at this time was Unit up in 
the place, participated in the general terror; but he did 
not on that account neglefil the ftudy of the Arabic, 
which he afliduoufly profecuted, under the direfition of the 
moft expert mailers. He improved himfelf alfo in the 
Turkiffi language, by his own application, and by fre¬ 
quenting the company of adervilh, celebrated for his ge¬ 
nius and learning. With the help of his preceptor, he 
began a tranflation of the New Teftament into the Turkiffi 
language, for the ufe of the Chriltians in that neighbour¬ 
hood, moft of whom were not fufficiently well acquainted 
with the Arabic to underftand the verfion of the Maro- 
nites; and the work was nearly completed, when he re¬ 
ceived orders, in the month of May, 1743, to return to 
France; which he did by the way of Conftantinople, 
whence he proceeded by fea to Marfeilles, where he ar¬ 
rived in the month of J[anuary, 1744, after an abfence of 
about ten years. Having been accuftomed, during his 
travels, to keep a journal of every thing remarkable that 
occurred to him, he reviled this work after his return, 
and publiffied it, under the patronage of count Maurepas, 
with the title of “ Voyages en Turquie et en Perfe, avec 
une Relation des Expeditions de Thamas Kouli Khan ; 
Paris,_i748.” This work, befides a great many ufeful ob- 
fervations in regard to the names and lituations of places 
determined by Arabian aftronomers, remains of antiquity, 
natural hiftory, and the manners and cuftoms of the 
Perfians and other eaftern nations, contains a ftiort ac¬ 
count of the revolution effefifed in Perfia by the celebrated 
Kouli Khan, with fome anecdotes of his life, which are 
the more worthy of notice, as the author was on the fpot, 
and had an opportunity of feeing the fafits he relates, or 
of receiving them from perfons deferving of credit. 
Soon after his return to France, he was appointed, by- 
count Maurepas, to be interpreter of the oriental lan¬ 
guages in the king’s library; an office which enabled him 
to render the knowledge he had acquired during his long 
travels of more utility to literature. As he now had free 
accefs 
