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Songish Indians

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

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1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Songish Indians
• Indians, Songish
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• Songish Indians

A tribe of Salishan stock formerly living on Vancouver Island, now on reservations under the Cowichan agency. They had the clan-system castes, and had communal houses with carved totem posts. They made dug-out canoes and wove blankets. Their religion was animistic, with many curious beliefs. Their first missionary was Father Bolduc who arrived with the Hudson Bay Company in 1843. The first regular mission was founded by the Oblate Father d'Herbomez in 1857. In 1859 Father Casimir Chirousecame with two companions. The tribe has been wasted by smallpox, but is now prosperous. They are industrious farmers and fishermen. Two-thirds are Catholics and the rest Methodists.