After the fur trade reached the Ojibwa during the early 17th Century, tribe structure and function rapidly changed. The intensity of social life increased as the Ojibwa and neighboring tribes gathered to exchange fur pelts for European items. Trade became so important that intertribal hostilities arose and an almost unrestrictive slaughter of animals occurred. Ceremonials included great quantities of surplus goods which were exchanged or destroyed at multitribal gatherings. As beaver declined, they found it increasingly difficult to procure sufficient quantities to obtain trade supplies. In order to survive, the Ojibwa were forced to adapt to a hare and fish subsistence. Neither these resources nor the trapping requirements allowed for the maintenance of large hunting groups characteristic of former years. The altered environment and external conditions of trade tended to mold the nature of social groups while setting limits on their size and the extent of territory which they could "exploit." The functional basis of unilineal society was destroyed. The Ojibwa had to readjust their adaptive strategies to conform with survival requirements. In most cases, they chose survival under deprived conditions over extinction. Faced with the need to adapt to a situation where only survival was the reward, they showed flexibility in altering subsistence style, organizational networks, and cultural motifs so as to exist and expand. (Author/NQ)