Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/665

OPOSSUM 651 vessels of more than 500 tons burden, and is noted for maritime disasters. Measures for improving its navigation are in progress. The climate of Oporto is cold and damp in winter, but in summer it is exceedingly warm. The manufactures, which are of little importance, consist chiefly of iron ware, hats, silks, linens pottery, casks, and filigree work. Local in- dustry is encouraged, and the consumption of foreign goods is limited by a high protective tariff. The total imports do not exceed $800,- 000 annually. The exports consist principally Oporto. of port wine ; this trade is almost exclusively in English hands, and would be more consid- erable if it were not for the British duty of 14 a pipe of 115 gallons ; the exports in 1871 included 31,956 pipes, or nearly 3,700,000 gal- lons. The total value of the exports, compri- sing cattle (chiefly oxen), fruit, sumach, and lesser articles, such as oil, lemons, oranges, salt, leather, and cork, amounts annually to $9,000,- 000. Nearly 700 vessels enter the port annual- ly, upward of 100 of which are steamers. The city is connected with Lisbon and other places by railway. The site of Oporto was anciently called Gale, afterward Portus Gale, whence the name of the country, Portugal. It was held alternately by the Moors and Christians from the 8th to the llth century, and in 1092 the latter subdued it and remained in undisputed possession. John II. conferred many privi- leges upon it, but they were withdrawn in 1757 in consequence of the resistance of the inhabitants to a wine monopoly. The French captured it in 1808, but retired in the follow- ing year when Wellington crossed the Douro. Oporto was conspicuous during the revolu- tionary period of 1820. It suffered terribly in 1828-'33, when it was alternately the prin- cipal seat of Dom Miguel and Doin Pedro, and again during the revolution of 1847. (See PORTUGAL.) OPOSSUM, the general name of the family di- delpJiidce of the order of marsupials, the sarigue of the French. They are confined to America, extending from the middle states to Buenos Ayres on the south, and, with a few excep- tions, to the east of the Andes. Some are as large as a domestic cat, but most are no larger than a rat. The form is rat-like, but the muz- zle is longer, ending in a distinct naked muffle ; the ears are large, membranous, rounded, and almost naked ; the body rather stout ; . tail generally very long, with only a few minute scattered hairs, except at the root, and pow- erfully prehensile; the feet five-toed, planti- grade, naked beneath ; all the toes with mod- erate claws, except the inner one of the hind foot ; the hind thumb is distinct, and opposable to the other toes; maminsB from 9 to 13, the odd one being in the centre of a ring formed by the others. The teeth are 50 : incisors |zf, cylindrical, arranged in a semicircle, the foremost two the longest; canines |z|, the upper the longest ; premolars if, two-rooted, compressed, and pointed; molars -|~f, three- rooted, tubercular, with five prickly cusps. The stomach is simple, and the caecum moderately long. Opossums are mostly nocturnal, hiding among the foliage by day, and active at night in search of food. They are divided into two sections, according to the presence or absence of the pouch. Among those which have a well developed pouch belongs the common opossum (didelphis Virginiana, Shaw), about 20 in. long, and the tail 15 in. additional ; hair long, soft, and woolly, whitish at the roots and brownish at the tip, giving the animal a dusky