140 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



A supplementary statement by Hilyera Anyay is cited further 

 below. 



Ahma Hitma: re's statement (193S). — [What causes ahwe : nyevedhi : ?] Such 

 people have bad dreams which resemble hiwey lak nyevedhi : dreams. [Then 

 what is the difference between the two ailments?] As regards dreams, there 

 is practically no difference between the two. A person may dream that he 

 has some sort of relations with his (dead?) relatives, but these relations need 

 not necessarily be sexual ones. If the patient does not tell every single one 

 of his dreams, then, even though he is being treated, there is no cure for him. 

 The patient must tell his dreams just the way he dreamed them (this specifi- 

 cation is also a part of the "basic rule" of psychoanalytic therapy), so that the 

 shaman may know what his sickness is. Of course, if the person is bewitched, 

 then it is only natural for him not to tell all his dreams." If a patient is 

 bewitched, it is death if he does tell his dreams (because the witch may take 

 revenge), and it is death if he does not tell his dreams (because he cannot be 

 cured). If the patient does not tell such dreams, he dies instantly, unless a 

 shaman, who is not the bewitcher, happens to be treating him that very minute. 

 In that case there is a chance that the patient may recover. 



[Can dead people bewitch the living? Is that why hiwey lak nyevedhi: and 

 ahwe: nyevedhi are so similar?] No. The dead can't bewitch the living in the 

 sense in which we apply this word to the acts of living witches. Of course, 

 ghosts also appear in dreams, etc.. but that is not quite the same as witchcraft. 



nil'ye:Vs statement (1038). — This informant asserted that ahwe : hahnok 

 (foreign disease) is not identical with ahwe: nyevedhi: (foreign ghost) (pt. 

 1, pp. 9-38). 



G. T.'s statement (1938). — This ahwe: nyevedhi: is also known as nyavudho:- 

 ka. That is all I know about it. (According to Kroeber (1925 a) nyavu- 

 dho : ka is also the name of a song cycle. ) 



Hilyera Anyay's statement. — \Do you know what nyavudho: ka is?] There 

 are several things by that name. [Interpreter, after conferring with Hilyera 

 Anyay, suggested that it would be better to ask Ahma Huma : re about this term, 

 since Hilyera Anyay thought that this term designated the entire group of ghost 

 diseases.] 



Eivsu: Tupo:tna's statement (193S). — Kunyoo :r. who can take people by the 

 hand and make them visit the land of the dead (Fathauer, 1951) can also cure 

 insanity caused by dreams about one's dead relatives." 



** A witch who Is not yet ready to make himself known as a witch, I.e., who Is not yet 

 ready to be killed, "seals" the lips of his victim, or else appears In his victim's dreams 

 disguised as another person, whose sliape he deliberately borrows in order to escape de- 

 tection (Devereux, 1937 c). This belief Is extremely interesting, since psychoanalysis has 

 shown that persons whom one does not wish to recognize appear in dream in the guise of 

 other persons. This belief implies furthermore that the Mohave tend to interpret dreams 

 symbolically, whereas most primitives interpret dreams either directly or else by opposites. 

 Even Homer is quite primitive in this respect, since his epics contain only one dream, that 

 of Penelope ("Odyssey," bk. XIX), which Is Interpreted symbolically . . . and this despite 

 the fact that Homer was a keen observer of dreams — witness his comparing the flight 

 of Hector from the pursuing Achilles ("Iliad," bk. XXII) to a dream in which one runs 

 and runs and does not advance at all. 



** Hivsu : Tupo : ma, who did not specialize In the treatment of this group of diseases, 

 always felt free to list all living specialists known to hlni ; e. g.. it was he who referred 

 me to Ahma Huma : re, Harav He : ya, and Kunyoo : r. Ahma Huma : re, on the other 

 hand, being a specialist, only mentioned a dead specialist, Hulo : k. The fear of being 

 bewitched by his competitors probably played an important role In silencing the reliable 

 and cooperative Ahma Huma : re. 



