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 BAST/.

210

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176,298; of Chamars, 220,785; of Kurmis, 123,206 the three latter aggregated, therefore, 520,289, or 32 per cent, of the whole. The other numerous castes in the District were Kachis, 49,622 ; castes

Kahars, 38,097; Mallas, 35,477; Kumbhars, 31,961; Telis, 29,194; Dhobis, 28,430; Sonias, 28,085; Barhais, 26,600; Tambulis, 21,497; Lohars, 19,732; Nais, 19,952; Pasis, 20,521; Lodhis, 21,076; Bhars, 18,556; Bhurjis, 18,364; Bhuinhars, 9977; Gadarias, 9225; and

The villages and towns in the District in 1881 were 7295 in number; and of these 4447 contained fewer than two hundred inhabitants, 2303 under five hundred, 433 under a thousand, 93 under two thousand, 10 under three thousand, 6 under five thousand, 2 under ten thousand, and i under fifteen thousand inhabitants. Sondrs, 8251.

There are no large towns

Basti with a population of

in the District.

5536, Mendhawal with 11,592, and Uska w'ith 5079 inhabitants, are The vast bulk of the only three having more than 5000 inhabitants. the total population

is

being composed of the agricultural classes

rural,

typical of the North-Western Provinces,

and scattered uniformly over

the District.

There are no organized trades-unions

in the

European sense of the

word, but the influential caste panchdyats, or deliberative assemblies,

answer a similar purpose, acting, however, the ordinary craft

leagues in

in a

much wider

the west of India.

field

than

Goldsmiths, grain

and other castes, regulate the customs of their As regards occupation, the Census returns the male population under the following six main headings (i ) Professional class, including military and civil officers and all Government officials, with the learned professions, 7086 (2) domestic servants, inn and

dealers, cloth merchants,

trades by this system.



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lodging-house keepers, 1852



(3)

commercial

class,

including merchants,

6330 (4) agricultural and pastoral class, 447,686 (5) manufacturing and artisan class, 31,462; (6) indefinite and nonproductive (including 15,945 general labourers, and 313,881 male children and unspecified), 329,835. The area of Basti is almost entirely under cultivation. Agriculture traders, carriers, etc.,

.





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In the north, the great expanse of alluvial land,

merged

for half the year,

the District

all

grows

the cereals

rice luxuriantly,

common

still

in

parts

and over the

sub-

rest

of

to the Province are cultivated.

numbers 1,395,676, or 85-59 P^r cent, of and the area under cultivation aggregates 1,169,925 Total amount of acres, or 62 per cent, of the total assessed acreage. Government land revenue, including rates and cesses levied on the land,

The

agricultural population

the total population,

Total rental or an average of is. 8|d. per cultivated acre. paid by the cultivators, including cesses, ;^348,659, or an average The soil is of three kinds, doras of 5s. ioi(d. per cultivated acre. sandy soil), and mdtiar (clay), (light, bdlua drier (loam), bhar or

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