202 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



The true nature of this derangement can best be grasped by read- 

 ing the preceding pages in connection with the data presented in 

 part 2, pages 83-87 and 87-89, which also deal with disorders of be- 

 havior directly related to the effects of witchcraft. 



PSYCHOSES OF THE OWNERS OF MAGICAL SUBSTANCES AND NARCOTICS 



The Mohave attribute supernatural or magical powers to several 

 substances, which interpreters usually designate by the term "drugs," 

 although, strictly speaking, they are charms endowed with person- 

 ality and power. However, since the Mohave believe that the princi- 

 pal sources of success in human life are dreams, charms play a rela- 

 tively marginal role in their life and custom, despite the fact that 

 they have been more or less coordinated with dream and ghost 

 patterns. The impression that this coordination or compendence is 

 an artificial one is strengthened by the fact that, according to the 

 Mohave themselves, these magic substances do not "belong" (nyuu :yk) 

 to the Mohave, who have "no power over them," but to the Yuman 

 Walapai and Yavapai Indians, and to the Shoshonean Chemehuevi 

 Indians. Indeed, we find that the charm tcapany is probably identi- 

 cal with the Walapai "drug" tcipa'n, that greasewood is part of the 

 pharmacopoeia of the Walapai (Kroeber, 1935) and of the north- 

 eastern Yavapai (Gifford, 1936), and that minerals (turquoise) are 

 used as amulets by the Walapai (Kroeber, 1935), the north-eastern 

 Yavapai (Gifford, 1936) and the south-eastern Yavapai (Gifford, 

 1932). Since these charms are believed to be "persons," and since 

 the Mohave afnrm that all intimate contact with aliens is dangerous 

 to them, it is not surprising that these drugs should be both coveted 

 and feared. As a matter of fact, the final evil influence of these 

 charms is spoken of as "hahnok" (influence of, or infection from) , and 

 is specifically compared with the so-called "foreign disease" ah we: 

 hahnok (foreigner's contamination) (pt. 4, pp. 128-150). Further- 

 more, in view of the connection between these charms, which, like 

 shamanistic powers, eventually turn against their owners, and such 

 typically Mohave culture elements as dreams of gliosts and of curative 

 powers, it is to be expected that charms w^ould usually be owned by 

 shamans rather than by laymen. 



MAGIC SUBSTANCES 



(a) Tcapany is the root of a certain weed, which grows in the vicin- 

 ity of the Steffens ranch.^'' "It smells like mint, and, when it seeds, it 



'o The Walapai describe "tcipa'n" as a short plant with leaves about 6 Inches In 

 length, and with a sliort, pray root, which grows around springs. It is powdered, chewed, 

 or pounded (Kroeber, 1935). 



