196 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



tient began to behave abnormally. The fact that, in several in- 

 stances, this abnormal behavior was not due to a neurosis or psy- 

 chosis, but to fever delirium, seemed irrelevant to the Mohave 

 themselves, and is, therefore, irrelevant also from the anthropological 

 point of view. 



A detailed discussion of witchcraft and of witches is beyond the 

 scope of this section, which is limited to the discussion of the ab- 

 normal behavior of patients believed to be victims of witchcraft. Of 

 course, it is not suggested that the Mohave believe in the existence 

 of a specific psychiatric syndrome caused by witchcraft. On the 

 contrary, it is almost certain that, had these cases been recorded in 

 the course of the 1938 field trip, which was devoted to the study of 

 Mohave ethnopsychiatry, the informants would have spontaneously 

 discussed these cases from the "psychiatric" point of view and would 

 have attached a traditional diagnostic label to each of them. How- 

 ever, since they were recorded in the course of an earlier field trip, 

 devoted partly to the collection of data pertaining to witchcraft, the 

 cases were cited as examples of sorcery and — as a glance at the ma- 

 terial will indicate — emphasized the role of the witch, rather than 

 the role of the victim. 



In view of these considerations, each case will be followed by a sug- 

 gested Mohave diagnosis, as well as by a tentative psychiatric diag- 

 nosis. The suggested Mohave diagnoses are in every case so plausible, 

 that only the strictest adherence to scientific accuracy caused, e.g., Case 

 49, on magical courtship, to be assigned to the present part, instead of 

 to part 2, pages 83-87, to which it obviously belongs. 



CASE 49 (Informants: Hivsu: Tupo: ma and Hama : Utce:, 1935) : 



The patient in question, Pi :it Hi :dho Kwa-ahwat (Pi :it eyes red), also known 

 as Kwakuy Tadhuk (Old-woman?),^ was the 30-year-old fuUblood son of a 

 woman also said to be a member of the O :otc gens, and therefore named O :otc. 

 He was the classificatory "younger brother" (isutck) (Gifford, 1922) of 

 Kumadhi : Atat, who bewitched him, causing him to have fits, because she loved 

 him passionately, without being loved in return. A proper presentation of his 

 case requires a detailed discussion of Kumadhi : Atat's personality. 



Kumadhi: Atat, of the Kumadhi: (horn or ocatilla cactus) gens"" was, in 

 1932, about 35-40 years old. This fullblood Mohave woman was relatively well 

 behaved. "She is not a habitual drinker and does not run around with men." 

 According to Hama: Utce:, "She is sociable; she talks, laughs and jokes.^ She 

 is also smart, well educated and speaks good English (few middle-aged Mohave 

 women spoke good English in 1932.) I, personally, like her." According to 

 Hivsu: Tupo:ma, however, "In the old days she would have been dead (killed) 

 long ago. They say that she is a shaman, even though she does not cure anyone. 



** Men's names are often a slur on women, and vice versa (Devereux, 1951 c). 

 " "And she sure is a thorn In some people's side," Hama : Utce: said. 

 *8This remark presumably was meant to suggest that she differed from other witches, 

 who tend to be stealthy and unsociable (pt. 2, pp. 57-71). 



