Tsimshian

For the Tsimshian of the Nass and Skeena rivers we have Boas's statement, derived from his analysis of Tsimshian mythology, that "sometimes when the olachen were late in coming, there would be a famine on Nass River" (Boas, 1916, p. 399) . In his comparison of Tsimshian data with Kwakiutl data in Kwakiutl Culture as Reflected in Mythology, Boas writes: 

The difficulties of obtaining an adequate food supply must have been much more serious among the Tsimshian than among the KWakiuti, for starvation and the rescue of the tribe by the deeds of a great hunter or by supernatural help are an ever-recurring theme which, among the Kwakiutl, is rather rare. One story of this type is clearly a Tsimshian story retold. . . . Starvation stories of the Kwakiutl occur particularly among the tribes living at the heads of the inlets of the mainland, not among those who dwell near the open sea, where seals, sealions, salmon and halibut are plentiful (Boas, 1935, p. 171; see other references in Piddocke, 1 965, p. 247) .