Vancouver Island 1881 Census
Vancouver District (191)
This district covered nearly all of Vancouver Island beyond the city and district of Victoria. It included the Saanich peninsula and the Gulf Islands, farming communities in the Cowichan and Comox Valleys, and the city of Nanaimo. Census District 191 also included major sub-districts in the West Coast Indian Agency and the Cowichan Indian Agency.
Subdistricts
191 A: Nanaimo &Nanoose Bay
Includes Gabriola and Texada Islands.
191 B
Mainly settlers in the Comox valley; also Denman and Hornby Islands.
191 C
Cowichan valley; Salt Spring, Galiano, Mayne, and Pender Islands.
191 D
Saanich peninsula.
191 E
Sooke; Lake District &Highlands District beyond Victoria.
191 F1: West Coast
This sub-district consists of a dozen households (mainly traders and missionaries) along the western coast of Vancouver Island from Barclay Sound to Kyuquot Sound.
191 F2: Eastern Coast
This sub-district embraces the Hul'qumi'num-speaking people on the south-east portion of Vancouver Island. This portion of the Cowichan Agency extends from the Cowichan River north to Comox. Indian Agent W. H. Lomas enumerated 20 "sub-tribes" here. The "sub-tribes" are identified in the viHistory database as "bands."
191 F3
This sub district number was not used in the census.
191 F4: Southern Straits
This sub-district was part of the Cowichan Indian Agency and was enumerated by W. H. Lomas. It includes 10 separate "sub-tribes" or bands located at Sooke, at Beecher Bay, and on the Saanich peninsula. It also includes Lekwammen people (recorded here as Songhees) at Esquimalt and Victoria.
191 F5: Western Coast
Extending from Otter Point to Cape Cook on the west coast of Vancouver Island, this district embraced 20 Nuu-chah-nulth tribes, from the Pacheena at the south to the Chekleset at the northern end of the agency. The Nuu-chah-nulth were enumerated by Indian Agent Harry Guillod.