Derereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 165 



their parents or dead relatives were still alive. Sometimes they have dreams in 

 which the dead relatives prepare foods, such as pumpkins and melons, which 

 are supposed to be the original food of the Mohave. When they awaken from 

 such dreams, their appetite is lost, their bowels are loose, and they urinate to 

 excess. In their dreams they see before them the body of a dead relative ; they 

 see the matkwisa: (soul) arise from that body and then step aside, turn 

 around and speak to them. Then the dreamers talk to the ghost and answer. At 

 that point the person who has such dreams goes insane. The spirit that arises 

 from the body and steps away from it is said to be itc tu :atck (the end, the 

 termination). 



A sick person also has another kind of dream. He sees that his dead rela- 

 tives have come back. They tell him that they have come for him. They say 

 'The place you are living on now (i.e., the earth) is bad.' The clothing which 

 the dreamer destroyed at the funeral of his dead relatives is supposed to be in 

 the land of the ghosts. The land of the ghosts is called Calya :y t ( Devereux, 

 1937 a) or Nyevedhi : nySmat (ghost earth). That place also contains the 

 nyevedhi: nyeva :tce (ghost dwellings) and Ahatc kupi :lyk. When he dis- 

 covers that his dead relatives have come for him, the dreamer may decide to 

 go back with them to the land of the dead. I mean, of course, that his soul, 

 matkwisa: sumatc mitcemvetc (soul of evil dreams) may do so. When one 

 reaches that stage (has such dreams), that too is a cause of insanity. When 

 the dreamer tells of having such a dream, people know that he has hiwey lak 

 nyevedhi:. This is so well known that even ordinary (lay) people know (can 

 make) this diagnosis. [In English we call this autistic regression. You are 

 quite right, it sometimes does involve insanity. By the way, I heard of two 

 other things that cause this disease: The return of the dead child into the 

 womb, and dream intercourse with ghosts.] As regards the return of dead 

 children into the womb, ordinary people may, perhaps, call it hiwey lak 

 nyevedhi:, but we, who have power (shamans), call it nyevedhi: utu:y or 

 utu :ly. We also apply that name to dreams of intercourse with ghosts, because 

 they precede dreams about the return of the dead baby and do. In fact, cause 

 ghost pregnancy. But when one merely dreams of intercoufse with ghosts, the 

 resulting sickness is called hiwey lak nyevedhi :. [What if one dreams of inter- 

 course with sexually tabooed living relatives?] That only causes straight 

 hiwey lak (Case 42) and not hiwey lak nyevedhi :. [Can women conceive babies 

 that way?] No. they can't. 



[I am getting a little confused — there seem to be so many kinds of ghost 

 illnesses.] There is, first of all, nyevedhi: taha :na (ghost real) [see pt. 4, pp. 

 175-184]. A person who has this ailment sees his dead relatives in dream; they 

 prepare food for him and he eats this food. He also dreams of engaging In 

 various activities with his dead relatives, much as he did when they were still 

 alive. Hiwey lak and hiwey lak nyevedhi: are Just about the same illness. 

 Their symptoms are the same. 



There was a man here at Parker, by the name of Hulo:k, who also had the 

 power to cure this illness. He Is dead now and there is no longer anyone who 

 can treat such cases. [Then what do you do with people who have this illness?] 

 They just die. There is only one man left who might know something about it, 

 but I am not sure of it. That is Kapel Tcukye :va. [I asked people to tell him 

 I wanted to talk to him, biit he doesn't seem to want to talk to me. Why doesn't 

 he?] He must be afraid of these things. Persons who are called real shamans, 

 because they have bewitched people, are very touchy about telling anyone their 



