DOFLA, a tribe occupying the hills forming the northern boundary of Assam. In ono of their districts, that of the Char Dwar, or Four Marches, no less than 180 petty chiefs are said to hold authority in the Dofla villages. The tribes on tho ilorthern Assam frontier are found in the following order along the bills, viz. Aka, Abor, Dofla, Miri and Mishmi ; next to them is the Buteah. The bofla country extends from the hill course of the Sundri river to the Ilhoroli river, comprising the hills to the north of Chedwar in the Lakhini pur, and of Naodwar in the Tezpur district.
Bangni, tho term in their language to signify a man, is the only designation they give them selves. During tho latter clays of tho declinin& Ahom suzerainty, several attempts were macre to check the Dofla atrocities; and on one occasion, raja Goininath Singh is said to have marched an army into their bills for the express purpose of chastising them, and several thousand Doflas u ere taken prisoners and brought down to the plains. The raja obliged them to dig a canal, with the view of draining off the large and unwhole some inorasses that still exist in tnahal Kollong pur ; but the greater portion of them aro said to have perished, and the task assigned to them remained unaccomplished. They are in com munication midi the Tibetans, and possess many articles of Tibetan or Chinese manufacture. They have a Mongolian type of physiognomy ; but from their intercourse with the people of the plains, and the number of Assamese slaves which they have acquired, it is much inodified and softened, and Colonel Dalton had sometimes seen Dofla girls with pleasing and regular features. Their complexion varies much from olive with a ruddy tinge, to dark brown. Marriages and marital righ ta are the same with the Dofia as with tho hill Miri. Those who can afford it aro polygamists ; but polyandry is far more common amongst tho Della than amongst the eastern tribes.—Dallon, Ethnol. qf Bengal ; Beng. As. Soc. Jour., No. 2051.
DOG.
Kalb, AHAB. Canis, . . . . LAT.
Kan, Cum Sag Pmts.
Chien, Fa. Swim ; Spa, . . SANSK.
Hund, . . . GER. Perro, Sr.
Kuon, ',raj TAM.
Kutta, . . . . Huin. Kuka, . . . TEL.
Cane, IT. Kynpek, . . . . TURN.
The various kinds of dogs are commonly be lieved to have been derived from one extinct species. On the monuments of Egypt, of date B.C. 3400 to 2100, several varieties of dogs aro represented, and on one Assyrian monument, of date B.C. 640, an enormous mastiff is figured,—
evidences of the fact of the long existence of many varieties. A predilection for the society of man seems almost inherent in the dog ; and when WC trace back its history, as far as the refuse heaps of Denmark and the pile folks of the Swiss lakes, or, what is still more suggestive, the representa tions on the Egyptian temples and tombs, tho great fact is irresistible, that man and the dog have shared each other's company for possibly a longer period than any other creatures ; and whether the attachment at first was gradual or not, it has now, at least as far as the brute is con cerned, become instinctive. Moreover, when we think of the vast periods embraced by the Egyp tian monuments of antiquity, and the time it must have taken to develope even one variety from the feral stock, and note the foxhound or tho turn spit of 4500 to 5000 years ago, it may well be conceded that the dog, of all four-footed beasts, has a claim to man's kindness and protection. The dog is mentioned forty times in the Hebrew Scrip tures, but always in terms of aversion. In the present day, Bedouins cherish their dogs. Except at Medina, they are met with everywhere in Arabia and Syria, aro of tho fierce Turkoman breed, the shepherd dog, the bazar dog, and the Macedonian greyhound, and are almost as much cherished as by Europeans ; and, whether a wretched mongrel, or belonging to ono of the pure breeds, a dog is the fierce companion of the wandering Turkoman, with its long ears and winter coating of long soft hair. The shepherd dog is not inferior to that of Europe in any respect. There is also tho town or bazar dog, besides crosses of the dog and wolf and the dog and fox. Dogs are generally the only sentinels of every Bedontn encampment ; aud the Macedonian grey hound, with the usual addition of hawk perched near the entrance of the tent, forms part of the suite of a shaikli or other chief throughout most parts of Arabia. This animal is about the height of a full-sized English g-reyhound, but rather stouter ; he is deep-chested, has long smooth hair of a red colour, and a tail nearly as much feathered as that of an Irish setter. His speed does not quite equal that of the highest bred dog,s of Great Britain, but hc keeps it up so much longer, that he is tolerably certain of running down the fleetest gazelle.