102 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bnll. 175 



can always find some form of security by calling upon the hospitality 

 of his relatives, which is never denied to him. Finding love is a 

 more difficult undertaking. 



On the other hand we note that love suicide, with or without 

 murder, generally occurs when both partners are of the same age, 

 regardless of whether the relationship is marital, nonmarital, adulter- 

 ous, or even incestuous. In these instances we find no barter gratify- 

 ing one partner's need for security and the other partner's need for 

 love. It is, furthermore, significant that in all cases of love suicide 

 the person committing suicide is the male. It can be stated with a 

 fair measure of confidence that this fact is connected with the 

 proverbial flightiness of Mohave women, which is admitted even by 

 the female members of the tribe. The situation can be further 

 clarified by discussing the means of action available to the individual 

 wishing to restore the status quo ante. 



(c) Infidelity sometimes leads to suicide or else to violence, but 

 never to hi : wa itck. At this stage the husband may compel his 

 wife to submit to an examination of her private parts, threaten her 

 with violence, or induce a group of his friends to abduct and rape 

 her, by way of "teaching her a lesson" (Devereux, 1948 f). Con- 

 versely, the woman may fight with her husband and his paramour, 

 nag him, and otherwise manifest her displeasure. In this specific 

 situation the husband is given relatively more elbow room, although 

 on a permissive basis only. Yet, Mohave public opinion condemns 

 excessive jealousy in either spouse, especially if it is not elicited by 

 valid reasons. 



{d) Simple desertion consists of leaving the family domicile, or 

 else, in love affairs, in the denial of previously enjoyed sexual priv- 

 ileges. In cases of simple desertion the woman is given a greater 

 latitude in her attempts to regain the affection of the departed hus- 

 band than deserted husbands enjoy. Attempts to restore the status 

 quo are not hampered by public opinion, unless they involve extreme 

 manifestations of emotionality in the man (Case 24). Simple deser- 

 tion, sometimes followed by casual affairs, but not by a new marriage, 

 leads to suicide (and, occasionally, also to suicide after murder) but, 

 apparently, never to hi : wa itck. 



(e) Desertion and remarriage. — Only suicide Case 125 falls into 

 this group, which includes all instances of hi : wa itck. In these cases 

 the breach was considered final, although there are instances in which 

 a woman oscillates back and forth between two men, or a man lives 

 alternatingly with two women. Such cases are, however, exceptional, 

 and do not seem to involve great emotional investments. Desertion 

 followed by remarriage was supposed to inhibit any attempt on the 

 part of men to reestablish the status quo, although women (and in- 



