Overhunting depleted animal populations to the point of extinction in some regions and undermined traditional hunting rituals and reciprocal relationships in which hunters treated animal spirits with respect and animals allowed themselves to be hunted. New tools made life easier but traditional craft skills sometimes declined. Alcohol was a crucial commodity for European traders. Traders soon found that liquor was a good way of attracting Indians to trade and then getting them to make that trade of favorable terms. Not all Indians drank and not all who did suffered from it, but alcohol had disastrous effects in many Indian societies. Indian hunters who sold their catch for a bottle of rum often left their families in poverty. Drunken brawls disrupted social relations in communities that traditionally stressed harmony and help between individuals and families.
