estimated at 530 miles, by ninety the average breadth.

In 1592 Orissa was divided into five districts, viz. Jellasir, comprising Midnapoor, and the British possessions lying north and east of the river Subunreeka; 2. Buddruck (now Cuttack); 3. Cuttack; 4. Kulling, or Cicacole; 5. Rajamundry. Besides this territory on the sea-coast, Orissa also comprehended an unproductive region on the western frontier, making part of the Jeharcund, or Jungly country, with the districts of Ruttenpoor and Sumhullpoor: but the two latter properly belong to Gundwana. The modern subdivisions of this province are, Cicacole, Rajamundry, Cuttack, Mohurbunge, Midnapoor, and Konjeur. The interior of the province still remains in a savage state, being composed of rugged hills and uninhabited jungles, surrounded by deserts and forests, pervaded by a pestilential atmosphere. It forms a strong natural barrier to the maritime districts, being only traversed during the driest season from February to May by the Lumballies, or inland carriers; and there are only two passes properly explored, in the whole length of the great ridge, extending from the Godavery to the Mahanuddy: the one direct from Chandah to Cicacole; the other oblique from Choteesghur by the way of Kalahindi; both uniting at the pass of Saloor, or Saureacca. By this pass, during the French possession of the northern Circars in 1754, a body of Mahrattas were introduced; more than half of whom perished from the noxious air of the hills. The chief rivers are the Godavery, the Mahanuddy, the Byturnee, and the Subunreeka, besides innumerable mountain streams. Although, as compared with Bengal, Orissa may be generally described as a barren province, yet the maritime part equals in fertility any territory in the Carnatic; and the district of Midnapoor is exceelled by few in Bengal. The country between the Gaintee and Bamoni is one of the finest parts of the province, and is inhabited by a considerable number of weavers of coarse muslins for turbans, &c. The best bamboos used for palanquins come from the purgunnahs of Tolchan and Hindole.

In the back parts of this province, beyond the British dominion, the native Ooreas are a fierce people, commonly armed with bows and arrows, or swords; the latter being generally carried naked. They are broad at the end, but narrow in the middle. These people have a rooted antipathy to the Mahrattas. The language of this province, and the character in which it is written, are both called Ooreeah. This was formerly an independent Hindoo kingdom, governed by a dynasty of princes of the race of Gujaputty, who, in 1592, were conquered by Mansingh, the emperor Acber's viceroy in Bengal, to which dominion it was then annexed. It then measured along the sea coast nearly 600 miles, by forty the medium breadth, stretching to the hills westward, and contained the nation of the Ooreas, a distinct race of Hindoos, differing in language, manners, and some peculiarities of religion, from the other Brahminical sects of Hindostan. From the accounts of ancient European travellers, fragments of national history, and a few remnants of former splendor, it was probably a flourishing

country before the Mahommedan invasion; but soon after fell into a state of comparative depression. It does not appear, however, that the Mahommedans ever completely occupied or colonised this province, which still remains one of those in which the Hindoo manners are preserved in their greatest purity. The temple of Juggernauth is famous for its antiquity, sanctity, and the great annual resort of pilgrims. After the expulsion of the Afghauns from Bengal, during the reign of the emperor Acber, they retreated into Orissa, and retained possession of the maritime and more fertile portions of it, and also of the Juggernauth temple for many years.

No province of India exhibits a greater difference, with respect to the proportion of inhabitants. Midnapoor, which comprehends less than 7000 square miles, has been found, by enumeration, to contain a million and a half of souls; yet it is probable the population of the whole province does not exceed four millions and a half. Threefourths of this extensive territory are possessed by the British, the remainder by various petty native chiefs in a state of perpetual hostility with each other.

ORISON, n. s. Fr. oraison. See ORAISON. A prayer; oral supplication.

The ORKNEY ISLANDS, the Orcades of the Romans, are separated from the north-east extremity of Scotland by the Pentland Frith, which is between ten and eleven miles broad. They are about thirty in number; but many are uninhabited, being small, and producing only sheep pasture. The principal inhabited islands are Pomona or Mainland, Hoy, North Ronaldshay, South Ronaldshay, Sanday, Stronsay, Eday, Westray, Shapinshay, Eglishay, Græmsay, Rousay, Weir, Enhallow, Papa Westray, Papa Stronsay, Burray, &c. The small uninhabited islands are often denominated holms; and the sharp and rugged rocks, overflowed at high water, and with scarcely any soil on them for the production of vegetables, are called skerries. The forms of the islands are very irregular, and their dimensions very different, some not exceeding a mile in length; whereas the Mainland extends to nearly twenty-five. They are disjoined from one another by sounds or friths, from one to five miles broad, having exceedingly rapid and dangerous currents; the whole extending from the south-west to north-east, the distance not less than seventy miles, and upwards of forty in breadth. The east and north coasts are in general low; the western more elevated, terminating in bold and steep cliffs. From similar appearances on the opposite coasts, many have concluded that they were formerly joined to the mainland of Great Britain. Near the small is land Swinna are two great whirlpools, called the wells of Swinna, which are particularly dangerous in a calm.

Mainland or Pomona, the grand island of the archipelago, and occupying its centre, is eight leagues long and one to three broad, but so deeply indented by bays that these dimensions give no accurate idea of its surface. Though very hilly, it has a considerable portion of fertile land, and on it are the two towns of the islands, Kirkwall and Stromness: the former is the chief place,

and is on a bay of the north coast, forming a good haven; it consists of about 300 neat houses, inhabited by the chief persons of the island, besides shop-keepers and tradesmen. Here is a vast cathedral dedicated to St. Magnus, and the ruins of the bishop's palace. Stromness, on the west side of the island, has recently risen from a poor hamlet to a thriving town, and almost vies with Kirkwall; its haven is entered by 200 to 300 vessels a year, caught in foul winds in the Pentland Frith.

The following are the inhabited islands south of Mainland. 1. South Ronaldsay, two leagues long and one broad, 1600 inhabitants, is one of the most fertile, and has a good harbour on the north. 2. Burray, separated from the preceding island by a strait two miles broad, is only five or six miles in circuit, but produces potatoes, carrots, and other garden vegetables, in greater perfection than the other islands. 3. Hoy, the highest land of the islands, is three leagues long and two broad, but at high water is nearly divided into two islands. On the north is a hill 1600 yards high called the Warth or Ward of Hoy, and at its foot in a dark glen is the greatest curiosity of the island, a hermitage cut out of a solid block of freestone, thirty-eight feet long, eighteen broad, and nine thick, and which seems to have tumbled from the hill. This island chiefly pastures sheep; its population is 1400; it has three good harbours, of which that named Longhope is much frequented by vessels for shelter. West of Hoy is a stupendous rock called the Old Man of Hoy, 1500 feet high, and resembling the ruins of an immense building. 4. Flotay, noted for its good road for ships, named Panhope, and also for its abundance of moor game. It has 200 inhabitants.

The smaller islands south of Mainland are Gramsay, one mile and a half from Stromness, three miles in circuit. It is in great part composed of schistus, and has 180 inhabitants. Teray pastures some sheep. Sinthay and Lamau; Cavay has only three families, and Lamholm, only one. The islands north of Mainland are Shapinshay, tolerably fertile, has 750 inhabitants; Stronsay, two leagues long and one broad, has two good harbours, 900 inhabitants. Papa Stronsay is a little pleasant island off the north end of Stronsay. Eday, five miles long and two broad, abounds in peat which it supplies to the other islands; great numbers of lobsters are taken round it: population 600. It has two good harbours. Sanday, four leagues long and one broad, is one of the most populous and the richest of the archipelago, making 500 tons of kelp a year; it has two good harbours. Westray, two leagues long and one broad, has abundance of pastures and peat; 1400 inhabitants. Papa Westray, north-east of the preceding, is a pleasant island with a little lake of fresh water; on it are the ruins of two buildings, supposed to have been druidical temples. It has 200 inhabitants.

Faray is one of the most level of the islands, and is clothed with grass. Eagleshay, two miles long, was accounted so much superior to the other islands, that it was the residence of the bishops and earls of Orkney; it is also noted for the murder of St. Magnus; it has 200 inhabitants.

Roussay, two leagues long and one broad, is one of the most rugged of the islands; it has 700 inhabitants. North Ronaldsay, three miles long and one broad, is one of the most level islands; it has 420 inhabitants. Weir, 150 inhabitants; Enhallon; Gairsay, a conical hill, fifty inhabitants; Domsay, a fine little island a mile in circuit, before the bay of Kirkwall, has but one family.

Copihshay, east of Mainland, is a noted mark for seamen; it has but two or three families. Fair Island lies between the Orkneys and Zetland, and has a little haven.

The commerce of the Orkney Islands consists in the export of beef, pork, tallow, hides, linen, yarn, coarse linen, feathers, and especially kelp, to the amount of 2500 tons. The imports besides luxuries are coals. The following is a statement of the trade in several years :£.

1770 Exports 12,018Imports 10,406

1780

1790

1800

Vessels. Tons. Men.

The fisheries of the Orkneys are neg ected, except that of lobsters.

All the islands have been said to contain about 384,000 acres, divided in the following proportions; viz. heath and moss, occupied as common 294,000 acres; green pastures occupied as common 30,000; in field pasture and meadow, 30,000: arable, including gardens, 24,000; total productive land, 84,000; houses, roads, wails, ditches, 2000; fresh water, 4000. The old system of agriculture prevails; nevertheless the county does more than support its inhabitants. Husbandry is in a very backward state. The plough used is the single stilted one, though the double stilted one is gradually coming into use. The plan of husbandry is to till very shallow, and to harrow sparingly, as the farmer relies more on the quantity of manure for raising a good crop. The manure is almost solely the sea-weed drifted ashore. Fallowing is rarely used, and a proper rotation of crops never followed. Black oats are sown in the end of March, or the beginning of April; and bigg or bear from the 1st to the 20th of May. The summer is chiefly employed in preparing turf and peat for fuel. The crop is reaped from the 20th of August to the end of September; if it should remain after that time it is lost, in the violent gales and storms which generally succeed. There is scarcely a tree or shrub to be seen; and, although several experiments have been tried to raise trees, they have failed; but the hills are

well clothed with heath, and the valleys are variegated with a profusion of beautiful herbs. The whole district is well supplied with lakes and rivulets, which yield delicious trout and salmon; turn mills, &c.

Rain falls in considerable quantity through the islands. Snow generally comes from the north-west and south-east. About the middle of June, a cold wind, accompanied with snow and hail showers, often blows from the north about two or three weeks, and checks the progress of vegetation. When this is past the wind changes, and warm showers succeed. Thunder and lightning are most common in winter. The aurora borealis is more frequent and more splendid in this than in most other regions. In summer the inhabitants can distinctly see to read at midnight; but in December and January the days are, on the other hand, proportionably short. During this season very little work is done; and it is then that the neighbouring farmers enjoy their convivial pleasures. On the coast, the small farmers employ themselves in fishing during the winter months, and in the summer in the making of kelp.

The land animals are small horses, cattle, sheep, swine, and rabbits. Of these the sheep are the most numerous, there being upwards of 50,000 in the islands, and, within the last twenty years, a far greater degree of attention has been paid than formerly to the breeding them. The domesticated fowls are as common here as in other parts of Scotland, and the heaths abound with snipes, red grouse, and plovers. The other wild fowl are large eagles of various kinds; wild geese and ducks in great variety, herons, hawks, gulls, solan geese or gannets, swans, &c. The eagles make much havock among the lambs, so that, by law, he that kills an eagle is entitled to a hen from every house in the parish where it was killed. The half-tide rocks swarm with seals; sea otters are very common; the friths are occasionally visited by whales, and by great herds of grampuses. Cod, ling, haddock, and flat-fish are abundant in the surrounding seas. Coal-fish, under the names of sillocks, cooths, and sethes, form much of the food of the people. Shoals of herrings used formerly to frequent the bays; but they have disappeared for some years. On the shores are found a variety of sponges, corals, and corallines; large oysters, mussels, cockles, &c. Ambergris and spermaceti are sometimes thrown ashore; but the greatest curiosity which the sea brings to these islands are the large Molucca or Orkney beans, all of American or West Indian origin, being conveyed across the Atlantic by the gulf-stream. The seeds of the mimosa scandens are the most common.

The coarse woollen manufacture of cloth, stockings, and blankets, has of late been less attended to than formerly; and, instead of it, that of linen yarn and linen cloth was introduced about the year 1747, and is in a flourishing state; but kelp is still the staple commodity.

It has been asserted that the Orkneys, as well as the hills of Shetland, were originally peopled from Norway, in the ninth, tenth, or eleventh century. Others imagine that the Picts were the original inhabitants, and call Orkney the an

cient kingdom of the Picts. Certain singular houses, now overgrown with earth, are called Picts Houses; and the Pentland frith (formerly Pightland, or Pictland) evidently retains their name. Claudian's line, cited by Camden, proves that the Picts, with some other German colony, particularly the Saxons, were then in possession of these isles; and so Ninnius expressly says. Many of the inhabitants used, until of late years, the Norse language, which differs but little from the Teutonic. The English language, with a Norwegian accent, is now that of these islands; but the appearance of the people, in their manners and genius, evidently show their northern origin.

The best and in all probability the most authentic account we have of this early part of the history of the Orkneys is from Torsæus. According to this writer, during the reign of Gregory the Great, when by his policy the Picts were driven from other parts of Scotland, they came to the Orcades, but did not meet with a favorable reception, for many of them migrated to Shetland, and thence to Norway. These islands were at various times harassed and plundered by adventurers from Scandinavia; and the Norwegian princes often laid the inhabitants under tribute. The Christian religion was transported to the Orkneys from Norway, in the beginning of the eleventh century, when Sigurdis possessed the entire dominion of these isles. About this time he married a daughter of Malcolm III., by whom he had a son named Torphinus, who succeeded him. He defeated Ronald, a grandson of Sigurdis, who had lived in Norway, and who was esteemed the rightful heir to the earldom of Orkney, after he had made a successful descent. He established salutary laws, and encouraged the arts of industry. Torphinus built a sumptuous church in Byrsa, where the first bishops of Orkney resided, and to which he retired in the decline of his life, and was interred in it, on his death at an advanced age. He left two sons, Paul and Erland, who amicably shared in the government of their father's extensive domain. During this period the northern counties are said to have arrived at a very superior degree of cultivation and improvement, which became equally conspicuous in the richness of their lands and in the mildness of their disposition. Their sons, however, did not both inherit their father's virtues. Magnus, the son of Erland, was pious and peaceable: a great promoter of religion, and anxious in patronising the establishment of Christianity: but Hacon, the heir of Paul, was vehement, wild, and impatient of restraint. He saw how Magnus was revered, envy drove him to revenge, and having, by the most deliberate villany, got Magnus into his power, he murdered him. The latter part of his life was spent in penitence, and in improving his dominions Magnus's singular piety, and his unfortunate death, were so well represented at Rome that he was canonised. Harquin had two sons, Paul the Silent, and Harold the Orator. Harold succeeded in Caithness, and the Orkneys were governed by Paul. Ronald, a descendant of St. Magnus, an elegant and accomplished youth, appeared at the court of Norway, and was supported

in his claim upon the Orkneys, as the heir of the canonised martyr. He sent messengers to Paul and offered to share the government with him; but this proposal was refused. By a very artful manœuvre, however, Ronald obtained his purpose, and shared his sovereignty with Harold, the heir of Paul. They lived amicably together till Ronald was at last assassinated by a proud chieftain; and Harold possessed the unrivalled sovereignty of the north for a long period.

In 1196 he was able to bring 7000 men to the field, and a body of cavalry, against the army of William, king of Scotland, but was defeated. In 1197 the Caithnessians rebelled, headed by one Roderic, and Torphinus, son of Harold. The king met and defeated them near Inverness. Roderick was slain: and William, seizing on Harold in the extremity of Caithness, detained him till Torphinus surrendered himself as an hostage; but, on some new treasons of the father, the king caused the eyes of the unhappy youth to be put out; and had him emasculated, of which he soon died in prison. Harold died in the seventy-third year of his age; and with him ended the independent sovereignty of the north of Scotland. The Norwegians seem to have been in possession of these isles as late as 1266; for then Magnus IV., king of Norway, being worsted in war with the Scots, yielded them to Alexander III., king of Scotland, by treaty, and Haquin, king of Norway, confirmed the possession of them to king Robert Bruce in 1312. Lastly, in 1464, Christian I., king of Norway and Denmark, when he gave his daughter in marriage to James III., king of Scotland, transferred all his right to them, to his son-in-law, and his successors; to make which more binding, the pope's confirmation was obtained. Magnus sold them to Alexander for 4000 merks sterling, and a yearly acknowledgment of 100 merks. The Danes, however, had pretensions to the Orkneys, which were not totally abandoned, until James VI. marrying Anne, daughter of the king of Denmark, the possession was finally recognised in favor of the Scottish king. Queen Mary advanced James Hepburn, earl of Bothwell, to the dignity of duke of Orkney, which became extinct on his death, when king James VI. created a natural son of James V. earl of Orkney; which failing in his son, it returned to the crown. The title of earl was revived in the family of Hamilton in 1696, and in that family it remains.

The Orkney and Shetland isles compose one stewartry, and send one member to the imperial parliament. The Shetland freeholders, however, neglect their franchise, which is exercised solely by those of Orkney. The right of superiority to the Orkneys was dismembered from the crown by the union parliament, and granted, for a certain yearly consideration, to the earl of Morton, who was by queen Anne appointed hereditary steward and justiciary. Upon the abolition of hereditary jurisdictions the appointment of the steward became vested in the crown; but as the earl of Morton possessed the patronage of the stewartry, that nobleman long possessed the office of steward and sheriff. Sir Thomas Dundas, now created lord Dundas, acquired many years ago the superiority of the islands, from the earl of

Morton, by purchase, and still possesses it, with the right of patronage to all the parishes of the stewartry except two. Some of the islands contain ores of lead and iron, near Stromness and in Hoy. Limestone is common in them. They are divided into eighteen parochial districts.

ORLEANS, GENABUM, a large, handsome, and very ancient post town and city, the principal place of the department of the Loiret, France, having a royal court for that department, and those of the Loir-et-Cher, and the Indre-etLoire; an inferior court of judicature; a chamber of commerce; an exchange; an academy; a society of sciences, Belles Lettres, and the arts; a royal college; and a free-school, for drawing and architecture. Its population is 43,000. It is situated in a fine fertile plain, on the right bank of the Loire, over which there is a magnificent bridge built of freestone. It is generally well built; the streets are wide, clean, and airy; its public squares are large, and its walks very pleasant. It is surrounded by numerous country houses, and extensive suburbs, which bespeak the opulence of a great city. Placed almost in the centre of France, at the branching out of the great roads that lead to every part of the kingdom, on the banks of a river which af fords a facility for the conveyance of the productions and manufactures of all the departments, this place is the mart of a considerable quantity of merchandise, and the centre of a flourishing trade.

The origin of Orleans is to be traced to a very distant period. It is said to have been built on the ruins of the ancient Genabum, which was taken and burned by Cæsar; it was one of the principal cities of Gaul under the Roman power. In the year 450 it sustained a memorable siege by Attila, king of the Huns, and owed its safety to its general Actius, who obliged these barbarians to retire, and defeated them on the plains of Champagne. On the fall of the Roman empire it came into the possession of the Francs, and under the successor of Clovis was the capital of that kingdom. It was re-united to the crown in the reign of Hugh Capet. In 1428 the English laid siege to it, and were compelled to renounce their enterprise by the heroic valor of Joan of Arc and Dunois. Sixteen councils have been held here.

There are manufactures here of caps for the Levant, hats, woollen counterpanes, shot, files, rasps, curry-combs, candle-sticks, chemicals, paste, pipes, square tiles, earthen and brass pots, &c.; also cotton and woollen spinning factories, numerous and fine sugar-refining houses, vinegar breweries, wax bleaching-houses, dye-houses, brass-foundries, tan-yards, and manufactories of white and chamois leather. A considerable trade is carried on in wine, vinegar, brandy, flour, corn, sugar, saffron, timber, coals, grocery, drugs, and the above-mentioned articles. This is the native place of Amelot de la Houssaye, the celebrated commentator, and Pothier, a famous lawyer. Here are a public library, containing 23,000 volumes; the bridge over the Loire, commenced in 1751, and remarkable for its extent and its lightness, the middle arch being 100 feet broad; the monument erected to the memory of Joan of Arc, in the Place Mar

troy; the cathedral, one of the finest in France, begun in the reign of Henry IV., and still'unfinished the entrance, surmounted by two round towers, is very beautiful. Orleans is eighty-four miles south-west of Melun; eighty-one N. N. W. of Bourges; forty-two north-east of Blois; eightyseven north-east of Tours, and eighty-eight south of Paris; in W. long. from that capital 1° 26' N., lat. 47° 54'.

It

ORLEANS, NEW, city, port of entry, and capital of Louisiana, in a parish and on an island of the same name; 105 miles by the course of the river, above the bar at the mouth of the Mississippi, and about ninety in a direct line. It is distant from Washington about 1260 miles. Long. 90° 8' W., lat. 29° 57′ N. Population of the city, in 1810, 17,242, of whom 5,961 were slaves, and of the parish 24,552. The population of the city in 1802 was estimated at 10,000 or 11,000; and in 1818 at 36,000. The city is on the left bank of the Mississippi, but so situated on a bend that it faces to the east. is regularly laid out; the streets are generally forty feet wide, and intersect each other at right angles. On the streets near the river the houses are principally of brick, but in the back parts of the town they are mostly of wood. The buildings have no cellars, except the space between the ground and the lower floors, which are raised five or six feet from the earth. Most of the houses in the suburbs have beautiful gardens, ornamented with orange groves. The country here is lower than the surface of the river, which is confined within its channel by an artificial embankment, called the Levee, raised at great expense, and extending about 100 miles. It is directly in front of the town, and affords a very pleasant walk.

The city contains a court-house, a jail, a market-house, an arsenal, a governor's palace, a custom-house, a hospital, a French theatre, a catholic college, a female orphan asylum, a nunnery containing thirty or forty nuns, three insurance offices, four banks, one of which is a branch of the United States' bank, and three houses of public worship, one for Roman Catholics, one for Episcopalians, and one for Presbyterians. There also two chapels and a hall where public worship is celebrated. Most of the public buildings are large and handsome. The Catholic cathedral church is a large and elegant edifice. The Presbyterian church, just erected, is a spacious and handsome edifice of brick and stone.

The buildings of the city were formerly almost entirely of wood, but those recently erected are, for the most part, handsomely built of brick; and the place is of late, in various respects, very rapidly improving. The population is fast increasing by accessions from all the states in the union, and from almost every kingdom in Europe. The French language, fifteen years ago, was here almost universal, but at present the English predominates. There are five newspapers published in the city, three of which are printed in English, the other two both in French and English.

New Orleans is very advantageously situated for trade, near the mouth of one of the noblest rivers in the world, whose numerous branches, VOL. XVI.

extending many hundred miles in different direc tions, waft to this port the products of various climates; and it is already become one of the greatest emporiums of commerce in America. The shipping belonging to this port, in 1816, amounted to 13,299 tons. The number of arrivals and clearances in a year, ending October 1st, 1815, was 623; 1816, 699; and 1817, 1,030. In the year ending October 1st, 1817, 1,500 flat-bottomed boats, and 500 barges, arrived at the city, from the upper country, bringing its productions. There are twenty steam boats now navigating the rivers Mississippi and Ohio; and several more are building.

Statement of the principal articles of domestic production which arrived at New Orleans in one year, ending October 1st, 1817 :Table of productions, 1816-17.

The total amount of exports from the port of New Orleans, from October 1st 1816, to October 1st 1817, 13,501,036 dollars 72 cents.

The British made an attack on New Orleans in December, 1814, but were repulsed by the Americans under general Jackson, with the loss of about 3000 men, killed, wounded, and prisoners. The American army lost only seven men killed and six wounded.

The island of New Orleans is formed by the river Mississippi on one side, and the lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, together with an outlet of the Mississippi, called the river Iberville, on the other. It is about 160 miles long, and from three to fifty broad. It produces sugar, lemons, oranges, and figs. Lake Portchartrain communicates with the city by the Bayou

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