OVIEDO, anciently OVIETUM, a town of Spain, and capital of the division of the province of Asturias, called the Asturia of Oviedo. The town is situated on a rather elevated plain, at the confluence of the two rivers Ovia, or Ove, and Nora, which after their junction, fall into the Nalon. The streets are tolerably straight, regu lar and well paved, and almost all of them open into the principal square, which is large and handsome. The Gothic cathedral, said to have been built in 760, is of freestone, and is very handsome. The bones of the kings and queens were preserved in one of the chapels. The church of San Salvador is very beautiful. The tomb of its founder, Silo, stands near the grand entrance. It was enriched with a great number of relics, which are probably no longer in existence. The university, founded in 1580, is considered one of the greatest ornaments of the town, and contains some fine halls. The acqueduct which sup plies the town with water from the spring of Tentoria del Boo, is of freestone, and has forty arches. There is also here a drawing school, which is well supported. The other public buildings are, an Episcopal palace, six con vents, three colleges, and three hospitals. The principal articles of manufacture are hides, hats, horn combs, and bone buttons. Population about 6400. West longitude 5° 56' 22" ; and north latitude 43° 21' 55". See La borde's View of Spain, vol. ii. p. 405.
OW, or Aw, Loch, a lake of Scotland, in the county of Argyle. It is about thirty miles long, and in some places
two miles broad, though its average breadth does not ex ceed one mile. The principal islands on it are Inish-Ail, on which are the remains of a small chapel ; Inish-Eraith, the scene of one of Ossian's tales ; Inish-Chonnell, on which are the ruins of an ancient castle, once the seat of the Argyle family; and Fraoch-Elain, on which are the vestiges of another fortress, which was granted with some adjacent lands to the chief of the clan of M'Naughton, by king Alexander III. on the condition of entertaining the Scottish monarch when he passed that way. On a penin sula of Loch Ow stand the ruins of Kilchurn castle, built in 1440 by the lady of Colin Campbell, knight of Rhodes, while her husband was fighting in the holy wars. It after wards was much enlarged, and became the seat of the earls of Breadalbane; but is now approaching gradually to ruin.
The surface of Loch Ow is 108 feet above the level of the sea. It receives a large stream at each extremity, and discharges itself laterally by the river Awe into Loch Etive. The lake abounds in salmon, trout, and char. At the north-east extremity of the lake rises the mountain of Ben-Cruachan, elevated 3390 feet above the surface of the loch. See Pennant's Tour in Scotland ; and the Beau ties of Scotland, vol. v.