1851.] Notes on the Dophlds and their Language. 129 



exorcists. They pretend also to a knowledge of divination, and when 

 called in cases of sickness, or in times of temporal distress, consult 

 auspices of many different kinds, but especially by the breaking of 

 eggs, and the examination of the entrails of young chickens. 



Marriages are never entered into, before the parties have attained 

 the age of maturity, and the ceremonies performed on such occasions 

 are but little perplexed with forms. 



The dead are always buried, and that very soon after decease. The 

 body is borne by friends and relatives in silence to the grave, and with 

 it are deposited the war implements and cooking utensils used by the 

 deceased, after which preparations are made for a funeral banquet. 

 . The physiognomy of the people, exhibits generally and normally, 

 what is commonly known as the Scythic, or what Blumenbach terms 

 the Mongolian, type of the human family. This type, however, is in 

 many cases much softened and modified ; and where there has been 

 any intermixture with the Arian inhabitants of the plains, it frequently 

 passes into a near approach to the Caucasian. The usual complexion 

 is that of a pale brown or isabelline hue, though in many cases it 

 approaches to a much darker tint. 



The ordinary dress of the Dophlas, consists of a short sleeveless 

 shirt of thick cotton clot.h, sometimes of the natural colour, but more 

 frequently striped gaily with blue and red, and always excessively 

 dirty. Over this is thrown a mantle of cotton or woollen cloth fastened 

 about the throat and shoulders by means of pins, made of bamboo. 

 The ears are always ornamented with great knobs generally made 

 of some shell, but sometimes of horn and amber. The hair is always 

 worn long, very neatly plaited and turned into a knot just above the 

 forehead. The women are generally wrapt in a shapeless mantle of 

 striped or plain cotton cloth, with its upper part tucked in tightly 

 over the breast, and enveloping the body from the armpits to the cen- 

 tre of the calves. Another cloth is also thrown over the shoulders, 

 answering the purpose of a cloak, the upper corners of which are tied 

 into a knot sufficiently low to expose the throat which is invariably 

 cased in a profusion of bead necklaces of all varieties of colour. The 

 ears are loaded with huge brass or silver rings and the ear-lobes, so 

 stretched with the weight of great metal knobs that they not unusu- 

 ally reach down to the shoulders. Heavy bracelets of mixed metal 



