These two vegetables along with seaweed supplement the coastal people's main diet of salmon, halibit, cod and marine mammals. The people who live in the interior are faced with heavy snowfall, frozen rivers and mountainous terrain. In addition to the berries and green shoots, their main diet includes salmon, eulachon, bear, mountain goats, caribou,deer and small land mammals. The main food sources facilitated trade between the various villages. They are further divided into subclans, family lineage, and individuals.
Every individual holds different ranks or titles.
Early villages consisted of several large cedar plank dwellings and was composed of families from different clans. Each longhouse housed many families related through the husband's mother and had a leader as did the family lineage, subclans and clans within each village. Men shared the longhouse with wives, children, other dependents, and slaves. The highest ranking member from the highest ranking clan was the village leader and the council consisted of lower ranking individuals from all the clans. These rights to fish, hunt and gather at specific sites were traced through the mother's lineage.