Devereui] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 13 



(2) The role of aliens and of ghosts in the causation of insanity. 



(3) Pathogenic dreams. 



(4) Saliva and other bodily secretions, which the Mastamho myth (Kroeber, 

 1948) also views as vehicles of contamination. 



(5) The notion that organic illness may cause psychiatric symptoms. 



(6) The struggle between health and sickness, and the struggle between 

 several illnesses within the patient's body, etc. 



Since a well-informed shaman like Hikye : t was unable to formu- 

 late a general etiological theory of insanity, it would be hazardous 

 to try to evolve inductively a comprehensive theory of Mohave psy- 

 chiatric etiology. One can, however, elucidate at least some of the 

 implicit connections between the various etiological explanations of 

 the several mental disorders known to the Mohave. 



One such basic etiological principle appears to be the concept of 

 disorganized power or force^ which may be either an external or 

 an internal one. 



Thus, the Mohave explicitly state that aliens can cause the Mohave 

 to become insane, because their blood is more powerful than that of 

 the Mohave. The same "excess of power" may also be ascribed to 

 ghosts, since, on the basis of altogether different considerations, 

 Fathauer (1951) suggested that aliens and ghosts are more or less 

 identified with each other in Mohave thought. Insanity caused 

 by witchcraft also appears to belong to the category of disorders 

 caused by the impact of some external and supernatural power, since 

 it is practically the prototype of exogenous illnesses. The most im- 

 portant evidence in support of this assumption is, interestingly 

 enough, a misstatement, made in all good faith by Pulyi : k, who is not 

 a shaman. He declared that there are three types of illnesses : sores 

 (hisa:hk), "straight" illnesses (itc hira: vtaha:na), and "not 

 straight" illnesses, which he definitely designated as matadha : uk, 

 although this word means witchcraft, and nothing else. In order to 

 explore this strange assertion further, without alerting the informant, 

 he was asked to describe the manner in which "not straight" illnesses 

 (which I deliberately referred to only in English) were treated by 

 shamans. 



His account ran as follows: "When a shaman is treating a "not 

 straight" illness the patient faces south, because his soul was taken 

 away by a witch and the shaman must bring it back." This state- 

 ment can pertain only to illness caused by soul loss and to the recovery 

 of the soul from the land of the dead, which lies to the south and 

 under the bed of the Colorado Kiver (Devereux, 1937 a). This also 

 happens to be the place where the ghosts take the souls of those of 

 their relatives whom they persuaded to join them in the beyond. 



These statements show that Pulyi : k, being a layman, simply viewed 

 witchcraft as the prototype of all "not straight" diseases, even though 



