DARRANG, a district in Upper Assam, in a narrow strip of land, 126 miles long, between the lower ranges of the Himalaya and the Brahma putra, which is navigable for steamers all the year round. The Aham are a wild tribe of Shan origin from the Burmese bills, who first entered the valley about the 13th century. They organ ized their conquered territory with minute pre cision, and held their own until the advent of the British. In Darrang they number only 3490. The Towang Bhutia are entirely independent of the state of Bhutan. They trade with Tibct, and are quiet and friendly. The Aka or Hrusso are a small tribe who used formerly to commit frequent raids on British territory. They now receive pasa or black-niail to the amount of ,£67 a year. Farther east are the Daphla, whose native mountains extend along the neighbouring district of Lakhimpur. In the year 1872, the
village of Amtola, occupied by Daphla settlers, was attacked by a strong party of hill Daphla, and 44 persons were carried off to the mountains.
In Darrang, as in the rest of the upper valley of the Brahmaputra, the great majority of the population are of aboriginal descent. The abori gines of the census report are mainly composed of Lachari, who number 62,214 out of the total of 76,094 ; Rabha, 10,302 ; Daphla within the district boundaries are 134 in number ; Koch, 46,788 ; Dom, 8023 ; and the Aham, 3490. Of Hindus proper, by far the most numerous caste is the Kolita (16,998), the ancient priesthood of Assam, who are now admitted to Hinduism as pure Sudras. The weaving castes are also strongly represented, with an aggregate of 18,550 members.—Imp. Gaz.