BASTI  , a

town and district of British India, in the Gorakhpur division of the United Provinces . The town, a coll,ection 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 .