BAST/.
209
2 to 3 miles in width, and, owing to the force of its current softness of the soil, very destructive by its encroachments on
places from
and the
The Gogra and
the adjoining land.
the Rapti are the only rivers
navigable throughout the year by boats of 25 tons burthen. The other The largest of streams are only partially navigable in the rainy season. the lakes are the Bakhira or Badanah, 5 miles by 2, and perennial; the They all Pathra, 3 miles by 2 ; the Chaur and the Chandu Tals.
abound
in water-fowl,
and
they afford, the Raja of Bansi
for the sport
preserves the Pathra and Chaur.
In
nothing worthy of special note.
The
its
natural productions Basti has
only mineral found
is
kankar
road-mending in the river-beds shells are found in sufficient quantities for the manufacture of lime. The District is well wooded, the trees being those common to the North-Western Provinces generally. The mammals are insignificant, imperfect limestone), used
(an
for
the larger carnivora being almost
Spotted deer are
unrepresented.
found near the Gonda border. Black buck (antelope) are very rare. Hog deer are found in the trans-Rapti belt, and nilgai all over the
and ot and form an
Birds, especially water-fowl, are exceedingly abundant,
District.
Fish abound in
countless species.
all
the rivers and lakes,
I
important item in the food supply of the people. j
History
.
— Basti has no history of
its
own.
Until 1801,
it
remained
uneventfully a jungle-grown and outlying tract of the Sirkar of Gorakhpur, in the
Subah of Oudh
and from the cession
part of the British District of Gorakhpur.
belongs to Oudh,
its
later to
Gorakhpur, and
of any public importance have marked
Population
.
—The
District at 1,473,029.
its
till
1865
it
formed
Its early history, therefore,
since 1865 no events
administration.
Census of 1872 returned the population of Basti The last Census in 1881 showed a population of
1,630,612, or an increase of 157,583 (io‘67 per cent.) in the nine years. population in 1881 numbered 824,251, and the female
'
The male
I
f
District,
7295;
I
of males in total population, 50'54 per cent. 2752’8 square miles; number of towns and villages,
proportion
806,361
Area of
number of occupied
houses, 268,159.
Average density of
592 per square mile; number of villages per square mile, houses per square mile, 97^4; inmates per house, 6'o7. Classified
j)opulation, 2-6
according to religion, the Hindus
in
1881
numbered 1,378,416, or
84'53 per cent, of the District population; and the
i
252,108, or
and 1
,
I
Jew.
i
Muhammadans,
There were also 78 Christians, 9 Sikhs,
The Muhammadans,
divided according to sect, consisted
of 250,265 Sunnis and 1843 Shias. The Christian population comprised The number of Brahmans 52 Europeans, i Eurasian, and 25 natives.
was 183,842; I
5'46 per cent.
and of Rajputs, 47,511
— the
higher castes therefore
aggregating 231,353, or 14-5 percent, of the total population; the Baniyas numbered 51,591; and the Kayasths, 33,542; of Ahirs there were VOL. II. o
