The largest of the numerous small bands attached to Cowichan agency, at the southeast end of Vancouver, British Columbia. They are of Salishan stock and speak the Cowichan language, which is spoke also by several of the associated as well as upon the opposite mainland. Their chief settlement is in Cowichan valley, about forty miles north of Victoria. In their primitive condition they subsisted by fishing, hunting, and the gathering of wild berries and roots. Their customs, beliefs, and ceremonials were practically the same as those of their neighbours, the Songish and Sechelt. Frs. J.B. Bolduc and Modeste Demers visited them as early as 1847, but they were chiefly converted by the Oblate Fathers, who arrived at Victoria in 1857. They are now civilized, industrious, and moral, in fairly good houses, living by farming, fishing, hunting, and by working on the railway, in canneries, etc. From probably 1000 souls sixty years ago, they have been reduced by smallpox and other diseases to 300 in 1901, and 260 in 1909, of whom all but about 60 are reported to be Catholics, the rest Methodists (see also SONGISH INDIANS).

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online