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II. — OjfiAS II, son of Simon the Just. He is not
mentioned in the Bible, but Josephus says (Antiq.,
XII, iv, 1-6) that, tliouph a high-priest, he was a man
"of httle soul and a great lover of money." He re-
fused to pay the customary tribute of twenty talents
of silver to Ptolemy Euergetes, who then threatened
to occupy the Jewish territory, a calamity which was
averted by the tactful activity of Joseph, a nephew of
Onias, who went to Ptolemy and purchased immunity
from invasion.
in. — Oni.\s III, .son and successor (198 b. c.) of Simon II, and grandson of Onias II. Josephus erro- neously at t ribut es to him the correspondence with Arius of Sparta (see above, On'i.\s I). He is mentioned in II ^Iach., XV, 12, as a good and virtuous man, modest and gentle in his manner. During his pontificate Seleucus Philopator, King of Syria, sent his minister, Heliodorus, to Jerusalem with a view to obtain pos- session of the alleged treasures of the Temple (II Mach., iii).
IV. — Onias, also called Menelaus. Mention is made in II Mach., iv, of Menelaus, brother of Simon, who became the unjust accuser of Onias III, and later a venal usurper of the priesthood. According to Josephus, on the other hand, he originally bore the name Onias, changed for political reasons into one more characteristically Greek (Antiq., XII, v, 1).
V. — Onias IV, .son of Onias III, too young to suc- ceed his father in the priesthood, which was usurped successively by Jason and Menelaus (see above) and later by Alcimus. In the meantime Onias withdrew into Egypt, where he obtained from Ptolemy Philo- metor a tract of land near Heliopolis, on which (about 160 B. c.) he erected a sort of temple. Here a regular Temple worship was inaugurated in defiance of the Law, but the innovation was doubtless justified in the mind of Onias by the scandalous conditions at the home sanctuary, and by the great number of Jews res- ident in Egj'pt. The project was censured by the authorities in Jerusalem (Mishna, Menachoth xiii, 10) and it was blamed by Josephus (Bell. Jud., VII, x, 3). Nevertheless, the worship was maintained until after A. D. 70, when it was abolished by Lupus, prefect of Alexandria (Josephus, "Bell. Jud.", VII, x, 4).
VI. — Onias, a pious Jew of Jerusalem in the days of the high-priest Hyrcanus, i. e. about the middle of the first century b. c. (see Mishna, Thaanith iii, 8, and Josephus Aiitiq., XIV, ii, 1).
James F. Deiscoll.
Ontario, the most populous and wealthy province of Canada, has an area of 140,000,000 acres, exclu.sive of the Great Lakes, of which approximately 24,700,000 acres have been sold, 115,300,000 remaining vested in the Crown. It is bounded on the south and south- west by Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Superior, with their connecting waters, and Minnesota: on the north-east by Quebec, and the Ottawa River; on the north by James Bay ; on the north-west by Keewatin ; and on the west by Manitoba. It is probable that a large part of Keewatin will soon be added to the province. Old Ontario (lying between the Ottawa River, the St. Lawrence River, and Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron) is well settled and cultivated: New Ontario, lying north and west, is sparsely inhabited.
Climate. — Moderate near the Great Lakes, sub- ject to extremes of heat and cold in the north and north-west, the climate is everywhere healthful, the extremes being of short duration and easily endured owing to the dryne.ss of the atmosphere inland.
Historical Incidents. — Held by France up to 1763, Quebec, including Ontario, was then ceded to Great Britain. Visited by Champlain in 1615, ex-
Elorwi by French missionaries and voyageurs, it had een the scene of frightful Indian wars, and massacres, and of the martyrdom in 1649 of the Jesuits, Br^beuf and Lalemant. Except for missionaries and their
entourage, trappers, soldiers in some isolated posts
and a few settlers on the Detroit and Ottawa Rivers,
and near the Georgian Bay, Ontario in 1763 was an
iminhabited wilderness roamed over by Ojibways and
remnants of the Hurons and Algonquins. After the
American War of Independence many colonial ad-
herents of the British Crown crossed to Upper Canada.
In 1786 some 4487 of them were settled on the St.
Lawrence and Lake Ontario. For twenty years im-
migration from the United States was extensive.
With accessions from Ireland, Scotland, and England,
it brought the population in 180G up to 70,000. This
was the nucleus of the Province of Ontario. In 1791
Upper Canada (Ontario) was separated from Quebec
and given its own governor and legislature, which first
met in 1792 at Newark, now Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The laws of England were then introduced. In 1797
the capital was moved to York (Toronto). In 1812
Upper Canada sustained the brunt of the war between
Great Britain and the United States and was the scene
of several noted battles, Queenston Heights, Lundy's
Lane, etc. In 1837 abuses by the dominant party and
irresponsible executives provokefl a rebellion in Upper
and Lower Canada, which resulted in their union and
the establishment of responsible guvcrnnient in 1841.
In 1866 Fenian raids from the United States were suc-
cessfully repelled. Difficulties of administration due
largely to racial differences led to confederation in
1867, Upper Canada becoming a distinct province
under the name of Ontario. Subsciiucnt growth has
been rapid; population has nearly doubled; known
wealth has increased many fold; and development of
industries and resources has been enormous.
Population. — The last census (1901) gives the population as 2,182,947. Municipal assessment re- turns for 1909 place it at 2,289,438, of which 1,049,240 was rural, 515,078 dwelt in towns and villages, and 725,120 in cities. The Ontario Department of Agri- culture considers that the actual population exceeds these figures by 10 per cent. On this basis the popula- tion in 1909 is estimated at 2,518,362.
Cities. — The principal cities, with their estimated populations are: Toronto, the provincial capital, 360,- 000; Ottawa, the capital of Canada, 90,000; Hamilton, 77,2,50; London, 55,000; Brantford, 22,750; Kingston, 21,000; Fort William, 20,000.
Agriculture. — In 1909 the value of farms, imple- ments and live stock was $1,241,019,109; field crops were worth .$167,966,577, hay and clover, oats, wheat, barleyj corn, potatoes, peas, and mixed grains being the principal items; dairy produce was officially esti- mated at $31,000,000; live stock on hand was valued at $184,747,900, sold or slaughtered at $64,464,923. Peaches and grapes, grown chiefly in the south-west, are a large industry. The average yearly value of the apple crop for the years 1901-05 was $8,671,275. In 1910 the Government Agricultural College at Guelph had 975 students; the Macdonald Institute for far- mers' daughters, 411. The Government maintains experimental farms and liberally aids agricultural institutes. 24,000,000 acres are now under cultiva- tion.
Mining. — The province is rich in minerals of va- rious kinds. The figures given are for 1908, when mining products realized $39,232,814. The most im- portant nickel deposits in America are in the Sudbury district, producing 18,636 tons, about 80 per ccSit of the worid's output. Iron occurs in various places (prin- cipally ha\matite at Michipicoten on Lake Superior) yielding 231,453 tons. The output of gold bullion Is 3246 oz. Important gold fields are being opened up at Porcupine. The fame of the silver mines of the Cobalt district is world-wide. Average ores carry from 2000 to 4000 oz. to the ton; 955 tons of silver yielded $15,436,994. Petroleum and natural gas are important products of the southwest. Portland ce- ment brings $3,144,000. Arsenic, cobalt, copper, cor-
