94 BUREATJ OF MIERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



separated, no hi : wa itck would have occurred. Hi : wa itck occurs in young peo- 

 ple as well as in the old. [However, on being pressed, informant could recall no 

 instance involving young couples.] When it occurs in a young person, it usually 

 involves a young (?) per.son who is married to an older one. Hi : wa itck does not 

 occur in good marriages, which last until one of the partners is dead. (But cf, 

 below.) (Q) Hi : wa itck also occurs in women, but I have heard mainly of men 

 who had it. [Interpreter commented: "When deserted, women fight, while men 

 do crazy things."] ^^ Women fight when they are deserted, but men do all sorts 

 of funny things. Some cut off their hair, because they say that they are going to 

 die, while others even kill horses (i. e., as at funerals, incestuous marriages, or 

 after losing an eye). Still others say that they are going to die. I faintly recall 

 one case . . . but not well enough to describe it, though I saw it happen. (Q) 

 People do not kill themselves because of hi : wa itck. 



Ahma Huma:re's statement. — I must laugh when I tell you about hi: wa itck. 

 In days of old the parents of a girl often advised her to marry an older man, 

 because he would think more of his home and of the things he could do for his 

 wife, than he thought of himself (Devereux, 1951 f ). Some such marriages were 

 a success. In a few cases, however, the young bride did not find her old husband 

 to her liking, and eventually deserted him for a man nearer her own age. On 

 being informed of his former wife's new marriage, the old man would then have 

 hi : wa itck. It would seem as though he did not know what to do. He would 

 move from place to place. He would not know where he was going, nor what he 

 wanted to do. When women get hi : wa itck they walk around and do not stay 

 home. Some of them fight their rivals. Such things happen only when one of the 

 spouses loves deeply and the other does not. The loving spouse loves more than he 

 (or she) can help it, 



Hivsu: Tupo:ma's statement. — The Mohave were not supposed to get upset 

 about such things as desertions. A man might fight with his wife while she was 

 staying with him, but, once the wife left, the man was supposed to forget about 

 her. Sometimes, however, a man would go out and take revenge, either person- 

 ally, or else by bribing an evil shaman to bewitch the faithless wife or her new 

 husband. Occasionally a man went to fight his rival, just as a lark. One man 

 even did that when his transvestite male "wife" left him (Devereux, 1937 b). 

 Women were not obliged to show a similar self-control and therefore did not de- 

 velop hi:wa itck. A woman could go and fight with her lucky rival (and/or, 

 according to Tcatc, also with the rival's relatives). When a woman set out to 

 fight her rival, many people went along, to enjoy the fun. A male transvestite 

 also did that ; he could do it because he could act like a woman. (A female 

 transvestite also tried to threaten her (male) rival. Case 105.) (Devereux, 

 1937 b.) 



Tcatc's statement. — Some people alternate between excitement and depres- 

 sion. This is caused by too much worrying. It goes to such an extreme that 

 they are almost out of their minds. When people are very deeply in love, even 

 though they be far apart, they see each other, because of their great love. You 

 should know that, since you are so much in love. Among the Mohave there are 

 cases of men loving their women so much that it causes their death . . . their 

 heart breaks. Such cases do not occur among the unmarried, but among the 

 married only. People marry those whom they love very much, and if the woman 

 then starts going with someone else, it breaks the man's heart. They keep on 

 living with her until she deserts them, becatise they cannot help loving her, even 



^ Characteristically enough, the only women I know who falsely) claimed to have had an 

 attack of hi : wa Itck, was O : otc, whom public opinion defined as a kamalo : y. I.e., as a 

 "phallic" and dissolute person (Dererenx, 1948 f). 



