As above stated, it was customary for the French colonists to sell the children of their female slaves.[312] The practice might, and did, mean that a father sold his own child. Notice of the matter having been called to the attention of the king, an attempt was made to prevent the practice by inserting in the instructions sent to the colony in 1721–1722, a provision forbidding the sale of either a female negro or Indian slave or her child, if a free colonist were the father of such a child. The same instructions further declared it in harmony with religion and the welfare of the colony that at the end of a certain period of time both mother and child should be given their liberty, and so be made free inhabitants of the colony.[313] Such a kindly attitude on the part of the home government met with but little response in the colonies. Several causes contributed to the passing of Indian slavery in French territory. Wherever the American Indians have been brought into contact with the white races, the result has been disaster to the red men. The Indian’s nature is not adapted to the white man’s scheme of life. The Indian absorbed the white man’s diseases and vices. Not the least of these vices was the love for strong drink, and the weakness of the natives in this respect was recognized and encouraged by the traders of all nations. The decrease in game and other food supplies as the Indians retreated from the sea,[314] famine followed by gluttonous excesses, wasting of the forests of the table lands,[315] all resulted in inferior living conditions and a consequent decrease in the birth rate and weakening of the tribes. As the weakened tribes withdrew from contact with the whites they usually joined with stronger tribes. The removal of tribes from their immediate neighborhood, and the union with other and distant tribes, acted as a check on the whites’ obtaining Indians as slaves. Such was the case with the tribes from whom the French of the Illinois country and Canada drew their slaves.[316] It has already been seen that the French missionaries of early colonial days believed that the enslavement of Indians would serve as a means of spreading the Christian religion. They found, however, that the method of obtaining Indian slaves by trade only increased the distribution of spirituous liquors among the tribes; and so, in 1693, they asked the king to prohibit the Indian slave trade. An order to this effect was accordingly issued, but with little result. The “coureurs de bois” found means to carry on the trade clandestinely notwithstanding the penalty attached.[317] Again, in 1736, the king decided formally to prohibit the enslavement of Indians and issued a decree to that effect;[318] but to no advantage.[319]