c. 1343.—"The principal vehicle of the people (of Malabar) is a dūla, carried on the shoulders of slaves and hired men. Those who do not ride in a dūla, whoever they may be, go on foot."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 73.
c. 1590.—"The Kahárs or Pálkí-bearers. They form a class of foot servants peculiar to India. With their pálkís ... and dúlís, they walk so evenly that the man inside is not inconvenienced by any jolting."—Āīn, i. 254; [and see the account of the sukhāsan, ibid. ii. 122].
1609.—"He turned Moore, and bereaved his elder Brother of this holde by this stratageme. He invited him and his women to a Banket, which his Brother requiting with like inuitation of him and his, in steed of women he sends choice Souldiers well appointed, and close couered, two and two in a Dowle."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 435.
1662.—"The Rájah and the Phúkans travel in singhásans, and chiefs and rich people in dúlís, made in a most ridiculous way."—Mir Jumlah's Invasion of Asam, tr. by Blochmann, in J. As. Soc. Ben., xli., pt. I. 80.
1702.—"... un Douli, c'est une voiture moins honorable que le palanquin."—Lettres Edif. xi. 143.
c. 1760.—"Doolies are much of the same material as the andolas [see [ANDOR]]; but made of the meanest materials."—Grose, i. 155.
c. 1768.—"... leaving all his wounded ... on the field of battle, telling them to be of good cheer, for that he would send Doolies for them from Astara...."—H. of Hydur Naik, 226.
1774.—"If by a dooley, chairs, or any other contrivance they can be secured from the fatigues and hazards of the way, the expense is to be no objection."—Letter of W. Hastings, in Markham's Tibet, 18.
1785.—"You must despatch Doolies to Dhârwâr to bring back the wounded men."—Letters of Tippoo, 133.
1789.—"... doolies, or sick beds, which are a mean representation of a palanquin: the number attached to a corps is in the proportion of one to every ten men, with four bearers to each."—Munro, Narrative, 184.