in Grecian antiquity, denotes the banishment of such persons as by their merit or their influence gave umbrage to the people of Athens, lest they should attempt any thing against the public liberty. This punishment was called ostracism, from the Greek word ὀστρακον, which properly signifies a shell; but when applied to this object, it is used to signify the billet upon which the Athenians wrote the names of the citizens they intended to banish. The learned are divided with regard to the substance of which this billet was formed. Some insist that it was a small stone, or a piece of brick; others hold that it was a piece of bark; and others assert that it was a shell. The word admits of all those interpretations; but what determines its true sense, is the epithet applied to it by ancient authors, signifying "the punishment of potter's clay;" and this expression seems to prove, that the word ὀστρακον, when applied on this occasion, signified a "piece of baked earth, in the form of a shell;" an idea which the Latin authors had undoubtedly in their heads when they translated it by testula. The ancients are likewise divided respecting the time at which ostracism was instituted; but they all agree that the person who moved the law was its first victim. As to the name of its patron, and the time of its establishment, however, they differ extremely. Many are of opinion that ostracism originated at a very remote period in the history of Athens.

But however this may be, the punishment of ostracism was inflicted by the Athenians when their liberty was believed to be in danger. If, for instance, jealousy or ambition had sowed discord amongst the chiefs of the republic, and if different parties were formed, which threatened some revolution in the state, the people assembled to propose measures proper to be taken for preventing the consequences of a division which in the end might be fatal to freedom. Ostracism was the remedy to which they usually had recourse upon these occasions; and the consultative of the people generally terminated in a decree, by which a day was fixed for a particular assembly, when they were to proceed to the sentence of ostracism. The persons who were threatened with banishment then omitted no assiduity or art calculated to gain them the favour of the people. They made harangues to evince their innocence, and the great injustice which would be done them if they were banished. They solicited, in person, the interest of every citizen; and all their party exerted themselves on their behalf. They also procured informers to vilify the chiefs of the opposite faction. Some time before the meeting of the assembly, a wooden enclosure was raised in the forum, with ten doors, that is, with as many as there were tribes in the republic; and when the appointed day came, the citizens of each tribe entered at their respective door, and threw into the middle of the enclosure the small brick upon which the citizen's name was written whose banishment they voted. The archons and the senate presided at this assembly, and counted the billets. He who was condemned by 6000 of his fellow-citizens was obliged to quit the city within ten days; for 6000 voices, at least, were requisite to banish an Athenian by the ostracism.

The Athenians, without doubt, foresaw the inconveniences to which this law was subject; but they sometimes preferred exposing the innocent to an unjust censure, to living in continual alarms. Yet as they were sensible that the injustice of confounding virtue and vice would be too flagrant, they softened, as much as they could, the rigour of ostracism. It was not aggravated by the circumstances which were most dishonourable and shocking in the ordinary mode of exile, and the goods of those who were banished by ostracism were not confiscated. Such persons enjoyed the produce of their effects in the places to which they were banished, and their banishment was only for a certain time. But in common banishment, the goods of the exiles were always confiscated, and no hopes were given them of ever returning to Athens.

The scholiast of Aristophanes informs us of a third difference between ostracism and the common banishment, namely, that a particular place of retirement was assigned to those who were banished by ostracism, which was not appointed to the other exiles. There is reason, however, to suspect the truth of this observation. Themistocles was certainly not limited in his banishment. That great man, as we are told by Thucydides, though his chief residence was at Argos, travelled over all the Peloponnesus. This punishment, far from conveying any stigma of infa- but the population must have since that period decreased materially. The other towns and villages are not of much importance. Those of Cayambe and Catacatache are situated at the foot of the mountains which severally bear these appellations, the latter being between 16,000 and 17,000 feet above the level of the sea. Near Cayambe, on an eminence, are the ruins of an ancient circular temple, about fifty feet in diameter. Of this edifice nothing remains but the middle walls, which are about five feet in thickness and fifteen feet in height, the whole being constructed of unbaked brick, cemented with a sort of earth. In the plain near this village are numerous tumuli, or burying-places of the ancient inhabitants, which are generally of a conical shape. Many of these are of great size, and have been perforated for the sake of the gold utensils which were deposited in the earth along with the remains of the departed chief. In this manner not a few Spaniards at one time acquired considerable wealth; for in running a gallery through the tumuli, they came upon a number of golden idols, and jewels to a great amount. The ornaments and images made of the precious metals which have from time to time been discovered, are in general beautifully wrought, but thin and hollow. The emeralds also are cut into all sorts of shapes, and perforated with the greatest nicety; displaying altogether a degree of skill and finish far superior to what might have been expected from workmen whose only tools were made of hardened copper or stone.

OTAHÁ, one of the Society Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean, situated to the north of Ulietea, and surrounded with rocks. It was visited by Captain Cook in 1769, and afterwards, in 1791, by Captain Edwards. Long.151.20. W. Lat. 16.58. S.