Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 149 



claimed that Cii :p had been a victim of witchcraft, but there is plenty of room 



for doubt on that score. 



Comment 



Mohave diagnosis. — Ahwe: nyevedhi : (?) perhaps complicated by witchcraft. 



Tentative diagnosis. — The crying incident followed by headaches suggests 

 simply the onset of some physical illness. On the other hand, the fact that 

 Cii :p had this crying spell while coming home from school, but did not die until 

 he was about 24 years old, suggests that the crying spell and the death were 

 not connected. 



The fact that this man's baby name was Cii : p (= straight erection) suggests 

 that he had frequent "tension erections" in babyhood. If this supposition is 

 correct, it is possible that his mother may have felt inadequate as a mother, 

 which would then explain why, when she, too, had a transitory psychotic episode, 

 cried a lot, had headaches, and believed herself bewitched. 



CASE 38 (Informants Tcatc and E. S.) : 



Mrs. Uta : c, 85 years old, of Parker, Ariz., had, according to some informants, 

 married into a family allegedly addicted to shamanism, witchcraft, witch killing, 

 and even incest (pt. 5, pp. 245-247). 



Mrs. Uta :c was bewitched by Hikye :t. She had been living a normal life and 

 no one knew why Hikye :t should have wanted to bewitch her. She was all 

 right until about a year before her death, which occurred in the late 1930's. 

 Around that time she became ill and had severe headaches, but felt better after 

 a few days. While she was going through this crisis, she had spells, during 

 which she cried out the names of her dead grandparents, saying that they were 

 dead and that people should cry (mourn for them). When the spells ended, 

 she became normal once more, but kept on having slight headaches. 



Approximately 6 months before her death she was taken to Needles, to attend 

 the funeral of one of her relatives named Coo : ta. While at Needles, she again 

 had one of her spells. She got up in the middle of the night and complained 

 that her chest was hurting her. Then, all of a sudden, she lost her mind. She 

 began to talk — about anything at all — and kept on raving for about half an 

 hour. I myself (Tcatc) did not see this, I only heard about it. Eventually she 

 quieted down and went back to sleep. In the morning her husband visited the 

 shaman Masahay Tcammahay (an untranslatable name, which has something 

 to do with a girl bird) of the Mu :ha gens, who, at the husband's request, con- 

 sented to treat her. — I (E.S.) was present when Mrs. Uta:c was taken to 

 Masahay Tcammahay's house, where she had breakfast with her niece (sister of 

 another Mah, who is alleged to be an incestuous witch (Devereux, 1939 a). 

 Toward 10:00 or 10:30 a.m. she had another attack, during which she did nut 

 lose her mind, but merely complained of pains in her chest. The shaman im- 

 mediately began to treat her, whereupon she felt better almost at once, and had 

 no further attack until about 4 :00 p.m. Then she once more comi)lained of pains 

 in her chest, and was treated again by the same shaman. She then slept well 

 all night. I left the house in the morning, so that I myself did not witness the 

 rest of the incident. 



Two or three days later she was brought back to her home at Parker by C. N., 

 who is said to be (at least potentially) a shaman-killing brave. During the 

 last two weeks of her life she was completely out of her mind. At times she 

 rose from her bed as though she were well, and then suddenly tore off her 

 clothes, so that her two nieces, both called Mah, had to hold her down. Some- 



