1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Basti

BASTI, a town and district of British India, in the Gorakhpur division of the United Provinces. The town, a collection of villages, is on the river Kuana, 40 m. from Gorakhpur by railway. The population in 1901 was 14,761. It has no municipality. The district has an area of 2792 sq. m. It stretches out in one vast marshy plain, draining towards the south-east, and traversed by the Rapti, Kuana, Banganga, Masdih, Jamwar, Ami and Katneihia rivers. The tract lying between these streams consists of a rich alluvial deposit, more or less subject to inundations, but producing good crops of rice, wheat and barley. In 1901 the population was 1,846,153, showing an increase of 3% in the decade. A railway from Gorakhpur to Gonda runs through the district, and the river Gogra is navigable. A large transit trade is conducted with Nepal. The export trade of the district itself is chiefly in rice, sugar and other agricultural produce.