Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/219

 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