Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 163 



Third song: 



Meya ine-eya me-eya (An exact translation could not be obtained from 

 Ahma Huma:re. He said it refers to "their" (whoseV) physical makeup. 

 Pulyi :k said it referred to a contest or argument with the illness.) 



Hameya me-eya me-eya (Sometimes me-eya is sung thrice.) 

 Fourth song: 



Hono:me yono :me yono:me (This still refers to "their" makeup. Pulyi :k 

 stated it meant: He goes after the illness saying in effect: "Do you 

 hear me?") 



No:me yono :me yono :me (Sometimes yono :me is sung thrice.) 

 As a general rule, every line is repeated at least once. Every time the second 

 word is repeated thrice, the melody loses its shuffling monotony and becomes 

 quite pleasing. The song is sung moderato, mezzopiano, and, at the end, 

 morendo (fading away). The phrasing is rather abrupt, and the rhythm is 

 dotted. 



Translation: "Your interpreter (Hama: Utce:) cannot really translate this 

 for you. All the words have, of course, a real meaning in everyday language 

 but in this song they mean more than that." (I.e., they are catch phrases or 

 slogans.) The interpreter also agreed with this statement. "I am not giving 

 you a real running translation of these songs. I will translate to you what 

 Ahma Huma :re says his songs mean." These remarks reveal that the Mohave 

 themselves realize that in shamanistic songs each word is surrounded by a halo 

 of implied meanings derived from mythology. Thus, in a sense, the shamanis- 

 tic "poet" seeks to transcend the limited meaning of words, and to compress 

 the story of, e.g., the "Creation" in the two words "heaven and earth," in order 

 to convey to the patient and to the audience certain general ideas which seem 

 to transcend the everyday "core meaning" of Mohave words. A discussion of 

 the complex problem of "translating" Mohave ritual songs will be found elsewhere 

 (Devereux, 1957 b). For the moment, it suffices to stress that a ritual song can 

 be translated on three different levels : 



(1) One can translate the "core meaning" of the words, as was done some 15 

 years later by the excellent linguistic informant Pulyi :k. 



(2) One can translate the "halo meaning" of the words, as was done by Hama : 

 Utce :, in consultation with Ahma Huma :re. 



(3) One can explain the meaning of the songs as a whole, as Ahma Huma :re 

 did. 



The meaning of the songs: In the first song I tell about the whole of heavens; 

 how beautiful and full of life it is. I also say the same thing about the earth. I 

 say that people were meant to be healthy and full of life and that, as I sing, this 

 sickness, which is foreign to (does not fit in with) all this life, will leave and 

 disappear. In the second song I say, 'You will have to tell your dreams and by 

 the time I am through with my singing, you will be healthy.' The third song is 

 really just a 'different pronunciation' (sic) of the first song and is supposed to 

 convey the same meaning. The fourth song is also the same; it conveys the 

 idea that it is in my power to cure." 



Left hand: I use my left hand because my power comes from the super- 

 aaturals on the mountain Avi :kwame :. 



Cases: At this point Ahma Huma :re briefly referred to three patients whom 

 he had treated recently (Cases 40, 41, 42) . 



Ahma Huma. re's second statement (1933). — Sometimes the ghost of a dead 

 child returns into the mother's womb, causing hiwey lak nyevedhi :. Its body 

 Is just a clot of menstrual blood. This condition is treated by shamans like 

 myself, who specialize in obstetrics. This disease is due to the fact that the 



