indeed his species has generally been identified with the | tion, initiatory rites and ceremonies, and various grades of common "Weeka" of the Maories of the Middle Island, dignity and honour. The objects the associations have in which can scarcely be the case if his statement is abso- view are purely social and benevolent; the sphere of their lutely true, since the latter does not appear to reach so far operations is confined wholly to their own members, and to the southward, or to affect the sea-shore. It may there- secrecy is enjoined in regard to all benevolent acts. As fore be fairly inferred that his subject was obtained from in the case of most other institutions of a similar kind, a some other locality. The North Island of New Zealand has claim of venerr.ble antiquity has been set up for the order what is allowed to be a third species, to which the name of of Oddfellows, -the most common account of its origin Ocydromus earli is attached, and this was formerly very ascribing it to the Jewish legion under Titus, who, it is plentiful; but its numbers are rapidly decreasing, and asserted, received from that emperor its first charter there is every chance of its soon being as extinct as is the written on a golden tablet. Statements even more imspecies which tenanted Norfolk Island on its discovery by probable and fantastic have been made regarding its Cook in 1774, and was doubtless distinct from all the rest, foundation, but Oddfellows themselves now generally but no specimen of it is known to exist in any museum.1 admit that the institution cannot be traced to an earlier Another species, O. sylvestris, smaller and lighter in colour period than the first half of the 18th century, and explain than any of the rest, was found in 1869 to linger yet in the name as adopted at a time when the coverance into Lord Howe's Island (Proc. Zool. Society, 1869, p. 472, pl. sects and classes was so wide that persons aiming at cocial XXXV.). Somewhat differing from Ocydromus, but appa- union and mutual help were a marked exception to the rently very nearly allied to it, is a little bird peculiar, it is general rule. Mention is made by Defoo of tho cociety of believed, to the Chatham Islands (Ibis, 1872, p. 247), and Oddfellows, but the oldest lodge of which the name has now regarded by Captain Hutton as the type of a genus been handed down is the Loyal Aristarcus, No. 9, which Cabalus under the name of C. modestus, while other natu- met in 1745 "at the Oakley Arms, Borough of Southwark; ralists consider it to be the young of the rare Rallus dieffen- Globe Tavern, Hatton Garden; or the Boar's Head in bachi. So far the distribution of the Ocydromine form is Smithfield, as the noble master may direct." The earliest wholly in accordance with that of most others characteristic lodges were supported by each member and visitor paying of the New-Zealand sub-region; but a curious exception is a penny to the secretary on entering the lodge, and special asserted to have been found in the Gallirallus lafresnay- sums were voted to any brother in need. If out of work anus of New Caledonia, which, though presenting some he was supplied with a card and funds to reach the next structural differences, has been referred to the genus lodge, and he went from lodge to lodge until he found Ocydromus. employment. Now there is a regular system of periodical dues and collections, with occasional fees proportioned to the dignities or degrees conferred in the lodges. At first each lodge was practically independent of the others, and had its own special rules and government, but a close bond of unity gradually grew up between the large majority of the lodges until they adopted a definito common ritual and became confederated under the namo of tho Patriotic Order. Towards the end of the century many of the lodges were broken up by State prosecutions on the cuspicion that their purposes were "ceditious," but the society, changing its name and location, continued to czist in a sort of moribund condition, as the Union Order of Oddfellows, until in 1809 several of the members endeavoured to resuscitate its dormant energies. Finding, however, that it was impossible to excite an interest in anything higher than convivial meetings, they in 1813, at a convention in Manchester, formally seceded from the Union Order and formed the Independent Order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity, which increased with enormous rapidity, and now overshadows all the minor societies in England. According to the Oddfellows Magazine for October 1983, the membership of the order in 1834 was 32,832, which in 1837 had increased to 80,570 and in 1845 to 239,374, while in January 1883 the numbers had risen to 565,368, the lodges amounting to 4251. In 1881 the receipts were £761,695, the payments £531,335, and the capital £5,291,891. In 1850 the society was legalized and recognized by the state in a corporate capacity. The Oddfellows' Magazine, issued by the cociety, and up to October 1883 published quarterly, now appears monthly. In England there are a large number of minor orders of Oddfellows, which either existed before the Manchester Unity, have seceded from it, or have had an independent origin. Among them are the Ancient Independent Order or Kent Unity, Woolwich, 1805, revived 1861; the Nottingham Ancient Imperial Order, 1812; the London Unity, 1820; the Boston Unity, 1832; the Kingston Unity, 1840; the Norfolk and Norwich Unity, 1849; and the Derby Midland United Order, 1856.

The chief interest attacning to the Ocydromes is their inability to use in flight the wings with which they are furnished, and hence an extremo probability of the form becoming wholly extinct in a short time. Of this inability | thero are other instances among the Rallida (see MOORHEN, vol. xvi. p. 808); but here we have coupled with it the curious fact that in the skeleton the angle which the scapula makes with the coracoid is greater than a right angle, a peculiarity shared only, so far as is known, among the Carinata by the Dodo. The Ocydromes are birds of dull plumage, and mostly of retiring habits, though the common species is said to show great boldness towards man, and, from the accounts of Cook and the younger Forster, the birds seen by them displayed little fear. It is also declared that they will interbreed with common poultry, and more than one writer vouches for the truth of this extraordinary statement. It is to be hoped that the naturalists of New Zealand will not allow the form to become extinct if any effectual means can be taken to perpetuate it; but, should that fate be inevitable, it at least behoves the present generation to see that every possible piece of information concerning the birds be recorded, and every possible preparation illustrating their structure be made, while yet there is time; for, though much has been written on the subject, it is obvious from one of the latest papers (Trans. New Zealand Institute, x. p. 213) that there is still more to be learned, some of which may throw further light on the affinities of the birds of the extinct genus Aptornis. (A. N.) ODDFELLOWS, a name adopted by the members of certain social institutions having mystic signs of recogni

1 As before stated (NESTOR, p. 354 ante), the younger Forster remarked that the birds of Norfolk Island, though believed by the other naturalists of Cook's ship to be generally the same as those of New Zealand, were distinguished by their brighter colouring. There can now be little doubt that all the land-birds were specifically distinct. It seems to be just possible that Spa-rman's R. australis, which cannot be very confidently referred to any known species of Ocydromus, may have been from Norfolk Island; but there is little probability of the point ever being determined, though it seems to be worth the attention of ornithologi: ts.

Oddfellowship was introduced into the United States

from the Manchester Unity in 1819, and the grand lodge | the Moravian tableland, in 49° 43′ N. lat. and 17° 35′ E.

of Maryland and the United States was constituted 22d February 1821. At first the progress of the order was slow, but, as may be supposed from the social characteristics and proclivities of the Americans, as soon as it had gained a firm hold its principles spread with great rapidity, and it now rivals in membership and influence the Manchester Unity, from which it severed its connexion in 1842. In 1843 it issued a dispensation for opening the Prince of Wales Lodge No. 1 at Montreal, Canada. The American society, including Canada and the United States, has its headquarters at Baltimore. In 1882 the membership was said to be 500,000, the income 6,000,000 dollars, and the annual sum disbursed for the relief of members of the order 2,000,000 dollars. Organizations, connected either with the United States or England, have been founded in Germany, Switzerland, Gibraltar and Malta, Australia, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, the Hawaiian Islanas, South Africa, South America, the West Indies, and Barbados.

The rules of the different societies, various song-books, and a number of minor books on Oddfellowship have been published, but the most complete and trustworthy account of the institution is that in The Complete Manual of Oddfellowship, its History, Principles, Ceremonies, and Symbolism, privately printed, 1879.

ODENATHUS, or ODENATHUS ('Odaivados, n), prince of Palmyra. See PALMYRA and PERSIA.

long., at a height of 1950 feet above the sea, and 14 miles to the east of Olmütz. It is 550 miles long from its source to its mouth in the Baltic Sea, and drains an area of about 50,000 square miles. The first 45 miles of its course lie within Moravia; for the next 15 it forms the frontier between Prussian and Austrian Silesia; while the remaining 490 miles belong to Prussia, where it traverses the provinces of Silesia, Brandenburg, and Pomerania. It flows at first towards the south-east, but on quitting Austria turns towards the north-west, maintaining this direction as far as Frankfort, beyond which its general course is nearly due north. As far as the frontier the Oder flows through a well-defined valley, but, after passing through the gap between the Moravian mountains and the Carpathians and entering the Silesian plain, its valley is wide and shallow and its banks generally low. In its lower course it is divided into numerous branches, forming a large quantity of islands. The main channel follows the left side of the valley and finally expands into the Pommersche or Stettiner Haff, which is connected with the sea by three arms, the Peene, the Swine, and the Dievenow, forming the islands of Usedom and Wollin. The Swine, in the middle, is the main channel for navigation. The chief tributaries of the Oder on the left bank are the Oppa, Glatz Neisse, Katzbach, Bober, and Lausitz Neisse; on the right bank the Malapane, Bartsch, Faule Obra, and Warthe. Of these the only one of importance for navigation is the Warthe, which through the Netze is brought into communication with the Vistula. The Oder is also connected by canals with the Havel and the Spree. The most important towns on its banks are Ratibor, Oppeln, Brieg, Breslau, Glogau, Frankfort, Cüstrin, and Stettin, with the seaport of Swinemünde at its mouth. Glogau and Cüstrin are strongly fortified, and Swinemünde is also defended by a few forts.

ODENSE, a city of Denmark, the chief town of the province of the same name, forming the northern part of the island of Fünen (Fyen), lies about 4 miles from Odense Fjord on the Odense Aa, the main portion on the north side of the stream and the modern Albani quarter on the south side. It is a station on the railway route between Copenhagen and western Denmark, and a ship canal 10 feet deep constructed in 1796-1804 affords direct communication with the sea. St Canute's Church, formerly connected with the great Benedictine monastery of the same name, is one of the largest and finest edifices of its kind in Denmark. It is constructed of brick in a pure Gothic style. Originally dating from 1081-93, it was rebuilt in the 13th century, and has been restored since 1864. Under the altar lies Canute, the patron saint of Denmark, who intended to dispute with William of Normandy the possession of England, but was slain in an insurrection at Odense in 1086; Kings John and Christian II. are also buried within the walls. Our Lady's Church, built in the 13th century and restored in 1851-52 and again in 1864, contains a fine carved altar-piece by Claus Berg of Lübeck. Odense castle was erected by Frederick IV., who died there in 1730. The provincial infirmary (1862), the new post-office, the Franciscan hospital, presented to Fünen in 1539 by King Christian III., Frederick VII.'s foundation (1862), the episcopal library (25,000 volumes), and Karen Brahe's library may also be mentioned. As an industrial town Odense has made great progress since the middle of the century; besides a large number of breweries and distilleries, it contains glove-fac-following works: Becker, Zur Kenntniss der Oder und ihres Flächengebiets (1868):

tories, match works, mineral-water works, tobacco-factories, chemical works, &c. The population was 5782 in 1801, 11,122 in 1850, 16,970 in 1870, and 20,804 in 1880.

Odense, or Odincey, originally Odinsoe, i.e., Odin's sanctuary, is one of the oldest, as it has long been one of the most important, cities of Scandinavia. St Canute's shrine was a great resort of pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages. In the 16th century the town was the meeting-place of several parliaments, and down to 1805 it was the seat of the provincial assembly of Fünen. It was the first place in Denmark to introduce gas-light (in the close of 1853). Hans Andersen was born in Odense, and Kingo, the Danish hymawriter, was bishop of the diocese. Paludan-Müller, a native of the neighbouring town of Kjerteminde, was educated in the Odense

cathedral school.

ODER (Latiu, Viadrus; Slavonic, jodr), one of the principal rivers of Germany, rises on the Odergebirge in

The navigation of the Oder is rendered somewhat difficult by the rapid fall of its upper course, amounting above Brieg to 2 feet per mile, and by the enormous quantities of débris brought into it by its numerous mountain tributaries. The German authorities, however, have been unwearied in their efforts to improve the channel, and have now succeeded in securing a minimum depth of 3 feet at low water throughout almost the whole of the Prussian part of the river. Their most important undertaking was the diversion of the river into a new and straight channel in the Oderbruch below Frankfort, by which an extensive detour was cut off and a large tract of swampy country brought under cultivation. The Oder at present begins to be navigable for barges at Ratibor, where it is about 100 feet wide, but the navigable channel will probably soon extend upwards to Oderberg. Sea-going vessels cannot go beyond Stettin. A second Oder-Spree canal, leaving the Oder opposite the mouth of the Warthe and joining the Spree near Berlin, has been determined on; and a canal connecting the Oder and the Danube has also been planned. The traffic on the Oder, which is steadily increasing, is mainly concerned with agricultural produce and timber. Some idea of its extent may be gathered from the fact that 280 riversteamers and 2800 other vessels passed through the Oderbruch (up and down) in 1881 with cargoes amounting in all to 166,500 tons. The river is here about 750 feet wide and 8 feet deep. The fishing is important, particularly in the neighbourhood of Stettin. Those interested in river navigation or engineering may be referred to the

Deutschen Wasserstrassen" in the Statistik des Deutschen Reiches for 1874; Haase, Regulation der deutschen Hauptströme (Breslau, 1850).

ODESSA, one of the most important seaports of Russia, ranks in the empire by its population (225,000) and foreign trade after St Petersburg, Moscow, and Warsaw. It is situated in 46° 28′ N. lat. and 30° 44′ E. long., on the southern shore of a semicircular bay, at the north-western angle of the Black Sea, and is 933 miles distant from Moscow and 403 miles from Kieff. Odessa is the proper seaport for the basins of two great rivers of Russia, the Dnieper, with its tributary the Bug, and the Dniester; the entrances to the mouths of both these offering many difficulties for navigation, trade has from the remotest antiquity selected this spot, which is situated half-way between the estuaries, while the flat ground of the neighbouring steppe allows

easy communication with the lower parts of both rivers. | European city. Its chief embankment, bordered with tall The limans or lagoons of Haji-bey and Kuyalnik, which penetrate far inland from the neighbourhood of Odessa, are separated from the sea by flat sandy isthmuses. The bay of Odessa, which has an area of 14 square miles and a depth of 30 feet, with a soft bottom, is a dangerous anchorage on account of its exposure to easterly winds. The ships lie, therefore, in two harbours, both protected by moles, the "quarantine harbour," from 4 to 21 feet deep, and the so-called "practical harbour," for coasting vessels, with a maximum depth of 11 feet. A new one, 1100 yards long and 660 yards wide, was constructed a few years ago. The harbours freeze for a few days in winter, as also does the bay itself occasionally, navigation being interrupted every year for an average of sixteen days. Odessa experiences the influence of the continental climate of the neighbouring steppes; its winters are cold (the average temperature for January being 23°2, and the isotherm for the entire season that of Königsberg), its summers are hot (72°-8 in July), and the yearly average

temperature is 48°.5. The rainfall is scanty (ninety-two rainy days, with 14 inches of rain per annum); and one of the plagues of the city is the chalky dust, which is raised in clouds by the strong winds to which it is exposed. The city is built on a terrace from 100 to 150 feet in height, which descends by steep crags to the sea, and on the other side is continuous with the level of the steppe, which is covered with a layer of "black earth"; the subsoil consists of clay, gravel, and a soft Tertiary sandstone, which is used for building, but readily disintegrates under atmospheric agencies. Catacombs whence this sandstone has been taken extend underneath the town and the suburbs, not without some danger to the buildings. The water-supply is inadequate. Drinking-water was formerly shipped from the Crimea, and the poorer classes had to supply themselves from cisterns and bad wells. An aqueduct, 27 miles long, now brings water from Mayaki on the Dniester.

The general aspect of Odessa is that of a wealthy west

and handsome houses, forms a fine promenade; a superb flight of steps descends to the sea from its central rquare, which is adorned with a statue of Richelieu. The central parts of the city have broad streets and squares, Lordered with fine buildings and mansions in the Italian style, and with good shops. But even on the best streets poor houses surrounded with open yards occur side by side with richlydecorated palaces; and in close association with elegant carriages and rich dresses one sees the open car of the peasant and the dirty dress of the Jew or the Bulgarian. The cathedral, finished in 1849, can accommodate 5000 persons; it contains the tomb of Count Worontzoff, a former governor-general, who contributed much towards the development and embellishment of the city. The "Palais Royal," with its parterre and fountains, and the spacious public park are fine pleasure-grounds, whilst in the ravines that descend to the sea the dirty houses of the poorer classes are massed. The shore is occupied by immense granaries, some of which look like palaces, and large storehouses take up a broad space in the west of the city. Odessa, which has a circumference of 6 miles, consists of the city proper, containing the old fort (now a quarantine establishment) and surrounded by a boulevard, where was formerly a wall marking the limits of the free port, of the suburbs Novaya and Peresyp, extending northward along the lower shore of the bay, and of Moldavanka to the south-west. A number of villas and cottages surround the city; the German colonies Liebenthal and Lustdorf are bathing-places.

Odessa is the real capital, intellectual and commercial, of the so-called Novorossia, which includes the governments of Bessarabia and Kherson. In the official subdivision of Russia it is only the chief town of the district of the samo name in the government of Kherson. It constitutes at the same time an independent "munieipal district" or captaincy (gradonachalstvo), which covers 182 square miles and includes a dozen villages, some of which have from 2000 to 3000 inhabitants. Odessa, like St Petersburg and Moscow, received in 1863 a new municipal constitution, with an elective mayor, municipal assembly, and executivo council. It is also the chief town of the Novorossian educational district, and has a university, which replaced Richelieu Lyceum in 1865, and now has about 400 students. The young scientific society at the university is very active in investigating the natural history of southern Russia and of the Black Sea, and has already published some valuable Transactions. There are also an historical society with a museum containing rich collections from the Hellenic, Genoese, Venetian, and Mongolo-Tatar periods of the history of the Black Sea coast, a society of agriculture, a public library, and many educational institutions.

The population of Odessa is rapidly increasing. In 1814, twenty years after its foundation, it had 25,000 inhabitants; this figure steadily grew in succeeding years, Worontzoff allowing all sorts of people, runaway serfs included, to settle in the steppes of Bessarabia and Kherson, while at the same time the privileges of a free port, granted in 1817 and abolished only in 1857, attracted great numbers of merchants of all nationalities. In 1850 Odessa had 100,000 inhabitants, 185,000 in 1873, and at present (1884) the number exceeds 225,000. Of these the great majority are Great Russians and Little Russians; but there are also large numbers of Jews (67,000, exclusive of Karaites, against 50,000 in 1873), as well as of Italians, Greeks, Germans, and French (to which nationalities the chief merchants belong), as also of Roumanians, Sernationalities do not live in perfect harmony, and the continual vians, Bulgarians, Tatars, Armenians, Lazes, Georgians, &c. These commercial antagonism between the Greeks and the Jews often leads to scenes of disorder. A numerous floating population of labourers, attracted at certain periods by pressing work in the fluctuations in the corn trade, is one of the features of Odessa. It port, and afterwards left unemployed owing to the enormous is estimated that there are no less than 35,000 people living from hand to mouth in the utmost misery, partly in the extensive labyrinth of the catacombs beneath the city. exporting, shipping, and manufactures. These latter have extended The leading occupations of the inhabitants are connected with rapidly within the last-twenty years, but their aggregate production (in the gradonachalstvo of Odessa) does not exceed 20,000,000 roubles (about £2,000,000). To this total the principal items are contributed by the steam four-mills (about £650,000 in 1879), the manufacture of tobacco (£200,000) and of machinery (£200,000), after which come tanneries, soap-works, chemical-works, biscuit

factories, rope-works, and carriage-works. The foreign trade, chiefly in corn, has immensely increased of late, since Odessa was brought into railway communication with central Russia. Grain was exported in 1880 to the amount of 1,040,400 quarters (2,445, 120 quarters in 1878). This figure is subject, however, to great fluctuations. The other articles of export are flour, wool, tallow, hides, cattle (about 140,000 head), soap, ropes, and spirits, the value of the aggregate amount of exports reaching 42,000,000 roubles in 1880, against 65,000,000 roubles in 1879, and 85,815,000 in 1878. The chief articles of import are tea (£1,600,000 in 1881), coffee, rice, cotton, tobacco, coal, oil, leather, paper, fruits, wine, and all kinds of manufactured ware, for an aggregate sum of 47,775,000 roubles in 1880. Odessa also carries on a brisk trade with other seaports of Russia, and, besides the 1508 ships (282 Russian and 650 English) engaged in foreign trade which entered the port of Odessa in 1879, it was visited by 2700 coasting vessels. Odessa is in regular steam communication with all the chief ports of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, as also with London. The Russian Navigation Company sends its steamers by the Suez Canal to Chincse, Indian, and Russian Pacific ports, and has a numerous fleet on the Dnieper, Dniester, and Bug. The commercial fleet of Odessa in 1880 numbered 101 steamers (44,000 tons) and 178 sailing ships (19,800 tons). The total revenue of the town in 1882 was 1,938,000 roubles, and the expenditure 1,883,000 roubles, the chief items being, for charitable institutions 434,000 roubles, for the army 213,000, for administration and police 309,000, and for public instruction 138,000.

History. The bay of Odessa was colonized by Greeks at a very early period, and their ports-Istrianorum Portus and Isiacorum Portus on the shores of the bay, and Odessus and the modern Skopeli at the mouth of the Tiligul liman-carried on a lively trade with the neighbouring steppes. These towns disappeared in the 3d and 4th centuries, leaving nothing but heaps of ruins; and for ten cen

belonging to them by birth; the evidence slightly preponderates in favour of his descent from the Scyrri.

His father was Adico or Idico, a name which suggests Edeco the Hun, who was suborned by the Byzantine court to plot the assassination of his master Attila. There are, however, some strong arguments against this identification. A certain Edica, chief of the Scyrri, of whom Jordanes speaks as defeated by the Ostrogoths, may more probably have been the father of Odoacer, though even in this theory there are some difficulties, chiefly connected with the low estate in which he appears before us in the next scene of his life, when as a tall young recruit for the Roman armies, dressed in a sordid vesture of skins, on his way to Italy, he enters the cell of Severinus, a noted hermit-saint of Noricum, to ask his blessing. The saint had an inward premonition of his futuro greatness, and in blessing him said, "Fare onward into Italy. Thou who art now clothed in vile raiment wilt soon give precious gifts unto many."

Odoacer was probably about thirty years of age when he thus left his country and entered the imperial service. By the year 472 he had risen to some eminence, since it is expressly recorded that ho sided with the patrician Ricimer in his quarrel with the emperor Anthemius. In the year 475, by one of the endless revolutions which marked the close of the Western empire, the emperor Nepos was driven into exile, and the successful rebel turies thenceforward no settlements in these tracts are mentioned. All that is known is that in the 6th century the Orestes was enabled to array in the purple his son, a handspace between the mouths of the Dnieper and the Dniester was occupied by the Antes, some boy of fourteen or fifteen, who was named Romulus and in the 9th century by the Tivertsy, both of Slavonian origin. after his grandfather, and nicknamed Augustulus, from his In the 14th century this region belonged to the Lithuanians, and in inability to play the part of the great Augustus. Before 1396 Olgerd defeated in battle three Tatar chiefs, one of whom, BekHaji, had recently founded, at the place now occupied by Odessa, a this puppet emperor had been a year on the throne the fort which received his name. The Lithuanians, and subsequently barbarian mercenaries, who were chiefly drawn from the the Poles, kept the country under their dominion until the 16th Danubian tribes before mentioned, rose in mutiny, demandcentury, when it was seized by the Tatars, who still permitted, how-ing to be made proprietors of one-third of the soil of Italy. ever, the Lithuanians to gather salt in the neighbouring lakes. Later To this request Orestes returned a peremptory negative. on the Turks left a garrison at Haji-bey, and founded in 1764 the fortress Ya.idunia. In 1769 the Zaporog Cossacks made a raid on Haji-bey and burned its suburbs, but could not take the fort; and, after the destruction of the Zaporojskaya Sech, the runaway Zaporogians settled close by Haji-bey in what is now the "quarantine ravine." In 1787 the Cossack leader Chepega again attacked Hajibey and burned all its storehouses, and two years later the Russians, under the French captain De Ribas, took the fortress by assault. In 1791 Haji-bey and the Otchakoff region were conceded to Russia. De Ribas and the French engineer Voland were entrusted in 1794 with the erection of a town and the construction of a port at Hajibey; the former was allowed to distribute about 100,000 acres of land freely to new settlers, and two years later Haji-bey, renamed Odessa, had 3153 permanent inhabitants, besides the military, and was visited by 86 foreign vessels. In 1803 Odessa became the chief town of a separate municipal district or captaincy, the first captain being the duke of Richelieu, who did very much for the development of the young city and its improvement as a seaport. In 1824 Odessa became the seat of the governors-general of Novorossia and Bessarabia. Since that time it has steadily increased its foreign trade and extended its commercial relations. In 1866 it was brought into railway connexion with Kieff and Kharkoff via Balta, and with Jassy in Roumania. (P. A..K.)

ODEY POOR, or UDAIPUR. See CHUTIA NAGPUR, vol. v. p. 768.

ODIN, or WODAN. See GERMANY, vol. x. p. 474, and MYTHOLOGY, above, p. 156.

ODOACER, or ODOVACAR (c. 434-493), the first barbarian ruler of Italy on the downfall of the Western empire, was born in the district bordering on the middle Danube about the year 434. In this district the once rich and fertile provinces of Noricum and Pannonia were being torn piecemeal from the Roman empire by a crowd of German tribes, among whom we discern four, who seem to have hovered over the Danube from Passau to Pesth, namely, the Rugii, Scyrri, Turcilingi, and Heruli. With all of these Odoacer was connected by his subsequent career, and all seem, more or less, to have claimed him as

Odoacer now offered his fellow-soldiers to obtain for them all that they desired if they would seat him on the throne. On the 23d August 476 he was proclaimed king; five days later Orestes was made prisoner at Placentia and beheaded; and on the 4th September his brother Paulus was defeated and slain in the pine-wood near Ravenna. Rome at once accepted the new ruler. Augustulus was compelled to descend from the throne, but his life was spared.

Odoacer was forty-two years of age when he thus became chief ruler of Italy, and he reigned thirteen years with undisputed sway. Our information as to this period is very slender, but we can perceive that the administration was conducted as much as possible on the lines of the old imperial government. The settlement of the barbarian soldiers on the lands of Italy probably affected the great landowners rather than the labouring class. To the herd of coloni and servi, by whom in their various degrees the land was actually cultivated, it probably made little difference, except as a matter of sentiment, whether the master whom they served called himself Roman or Rugian. We have one most interesting example, though in a small way, of such a transfer of land with its appurtenant slaves and cattle, in the donation made by Odoacer himself to his faithful follower Pierius. Few things bring more vividly before the reader the continuity of legal and social life in the midst of the tremendous ethnical changes of the 5th century than the perusal of such a record.

The same fact, from a slightly different point of view, is illustrated by the curious history (recorded by Malchus) of the embassies to Constantinople. The dethroned emperor Nepos sent ambassadors (in 477 or 478) to Zeno emperor

1 Published in Marini's Papiri Diplomatici (Rome, 1815, Nos. 82 and 83) and in Spangenberg's Juris Romani Tabula (Leipsic, 1822, pp 164-173), and well worthy of careful study.

In

of the East, begging his aid in the reconquest of Italy. | almost equally burdensome as enemies or as allies. These ambassadors met a deputation from the Roman these circumstances arose the plan of Theodoric's invasion senate, sent nominally by the command of Augustulus, of Italy, a plan by whom originated it would be difficult really no doubt by that of Odoacer, the purport of whose to say. Whether the land when conquered was to be held commission was that they did not need a separate emperor. by the Ostrogoth in full sovereignty, or administered by Ono was sufficient to defend the borders of either realm. him as lieutenant of Zeno, is a point upon which our inforThe senate had chosen Odoacer, whose knowledge of mation is ambiguous, and which was perhaps intentionally military affairs and whose statesmanship admirably fitted left vague by the two contracting parties, whose chief him for preserving order in that part of the world, and anxiety was not to see one another's faces again. The they therefore prayed Zeno to confer upon him the dignity details of the Ostrogothic invasion of Italy belong properly of patrician, and entrust the "diocese " of Italy to his care. to the life of Theodoric. It is sufficient to state here that Zeno returned a harsh answer to the senate, requiring he entered Italy in August 489, defeated Odoacer at the them to return to their allegiance to Nepos. In fact, how- Isontius (Isonzo) on the 28th of August, and at Verona ever, he did nothing for the fallen emperor, but accepted on the 30th of September. Odoacer then shut himself up the new order of things, and even addressed Odoacer as in Ravenna, and there maintained himself for four years, patriciau. On the other hand, the latter sent the orna- with one brief gleam of success, during which he emerged ments of empire, the diadem and purple robe, to Con- from his hiding-place and fought the battle of the Addua stantinople as an acknowledgment of the fact that he did (11th August 490), in which he was again defeated. A not claim supreme power. Our information as to the actual sally from Ravenna (10th July 491) was again the occasion title assumed by the new ruler is somewhat confused. He of a murderous defeat. At length, the famine in Ravenna does not appear to have called himself king of Italy. His having become almost intolerable, and the Goths despairkingship seems to have marked only his relation to his ing of ever taking the city by assault, negotiations were Teutonic followers, among whom he was "king of the opened for a compromise (25th February 493). John, Turcilingi," "king of the Heruli," and so forth, according archbishop of Ravenna, acted as mediator. It was stiputo the nationality with which he was dealing. By the lated that Ravenna should be surrendered, that Odoacer's Roman inhabitants of Italy he was addressed as "dominus life should be spared, and that he and Theodoric should noster," but his right to exercise power would in their be recognized as joint rulers of the Roman state. The eyes rest, in theory, on his recognition as patricius by the arrangement was evidently a precarious one, and was soon Byzantine Augustus. At the same time, he marked his terminated by the treachery of Theodoric. He invited own high pretensions by assuming the prefix Flavius, a his rival to a banquet in the palace of the Lauretum on reminiscence of the carly emperors, to which the barbarian the 15th of March, and there slew him with his own rulers of realms formed out of the Roman state seem to hand. "Where is God?" cried Odoacer when he perceived have been peculiarly partial. His internal administration the ambush into which he had fallen. "Thus didst thou was probably, upon the whole, wise and moderate, though deal with my kinsmen,” shouted Theodoric, and clove his we hear some complaints of financial oppression, and he rival with the broadsword from shoulder to flank. Onulf, may be looked upon as a not altogether unworthy pre- the brother of the murdered king, was shot down while decessor of Theodoric. attempting to escape through the palace garden, and Thelan, his son, was not long after put to death by order of the conqueror. Thus periched the whole race of Odoacer.

In the history of the papacy Odoacer figures as the author of a decrce promulgated at the election of Felix II. in 483, forbidding the pope to alienate any of the lands or ornaments of the Roman Church, and threatening any pope who should infringe this edict with anathema. This decree, a strange one to proceed from an Arian sovereign, was probably suggested by some of the Roman counsellors of the king, and seems to have been accepted at the time without protest. It was, however, loudly condemned in a synod held by Pope Symmachus (502) as an unwarrantable interference of the civil power with the concerns of the church. The chief events in the foreign policy of Odoacer were his Dalmatian and Rugian wars. In the year 480 the ex-emperor Nepos, who ruled Dalmatia, was traitorously assassinated in Diocletian's palace at Spalato by the counts Viator and Ovida. In the following year Odoacer invaded Dalmatia, slow the murderer Ovida, and reannexed Dal matia to the Western state. In 487 he appeared as an invader in his own native Danubian lands. War broke out between him and Feletheus, king of the Rugians. Odoacer entered the Rugian territory, defeated Feletheus, and carried him and "his noxious wife" Gisa prisoners to Ravenna. In the following year Frederick, son of the captive king, endeavoured to raise again the fallen fortunes of his house, but was defeated by Onulf, brother of Odoacer, and, being forced to flee, took refuge at the court of Theodoric the Ostrogoth, at Sistova on the lower Danube.

This Rugian war was probably an indirect cause of the fall of Odoacer. His increasing power rendered him too formidabie to the Byzantine court, with whom his relations had for some time been growing less friendly. At the same time, Zeno was embarrassed by the formidable neighbourhood of Theodoric and his Ostrogothic warriors, who were

Literature.-The chief authoritics for the life of Odoacer aro tho so-called "Anonymus Valcsii," generally printed at the end of chroniclers, Cassiodorus and " Ammianus Marcellinus; the Life of Severinus, by Eugippius; the Cuspiniani Anonymus" (both in Roncalli's collection); and the Byzantine historians, Malchus and John of Antioch. A fragment of the latter historian, unknown when Gibbon wrote, is to be found in the fifth volume of Müller's Fragmenta Historicorum Græcorum. Among modern students, Pallmann (Geschichte der Vollerwanderung, vol. ii.) has invecti gated the history of Odoacer the most thoroughly. (T. H.)

O'DONNELL. (1) HENRY JOSEPH (1769-1834), count of La Bisbal, a native of Spain, was descended from the O'Donnells who left Ireland after the battle of the Boyne;' he early entered the Spanish army, and in 1810 became general, receiving a command in Catalonia, where in that year he earned his title and the rank of field-marshai. Henry Joseph afterwards held posts of great responsibility under Ferdinand VII., whom he served on the whole with constancy; the events of 1823 compelled his flight into France, where he was interned at Limoges, and where he died in 1834. (2) LEOPOLD (1809-1867), Duko of Tetuan, Spanish general and statesman, the second son of Henry Joseph O'Donnell, was born at Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, on 12th January 1809. He fought in the army of Queen Christina, where he attained the rank of general of division; and in 1840 he accompanied the queen into exile. He failed in an attempt to effect a rising in her favour at Pamplona in 1841, but took a more successful part in the movement which led to the overthrow and exile of Espartero

A branch of the family settled in Austria, and General Karl O'Donnell, count of Tyrconnel (1715-1771), held important commands during the Seven Years' War. The name of a descendant igures in the history of the Italian and Hungarian campaigns of 1848 and 1819.