264 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



standards, his sexual activities were neither extreme, nor incompatible 

 with his age. The fact that he was slightly maladjusted and neurotic, 

 even before this sexual act, obliges the psychiatrist to suspect that liis 

 sexual activity was also neurotically motivated. This does not mean, 

 however, that we are entitled to consider him, at that time and for 

 that reason^ also as a delinquent, in the sociological sense of that 

 term. 



By contrast, if a child's sexual activities violate the usual Mohave 

 norm for such actions, the child may, in certain instances, be con- 

 sidered delinquent. However, even in such cases a detailed examina- 

 tion of the Mohave attitude toward juvenile sex activity is necessary, 

 before a valid psychiatric evaluation of the sexually hyperactive 

 Mohave cliild becomes possible. 



If the sexual excesses and the obstreperousness of a child happen 

 to fit the behavior pattern which the Mohave expect the budding 

 shaman to manifest, the child will be called "wild," "crazy" or "ob- 

 noxious" — i.e., it will be considered delinquent. Yet, at the same time, 

 the tribe recognizes that it is dealing not with a "simple delinquent," 

 but, specifically, with a future shaman. In such instances the Mohave 

 show a great deal of — slightly exasperated — tolerance and, on the 

 whole, seek to avoid open clashes with the "bad" child. This tolerance 

 is not motivated by a fear of magical retaliation, since, according to 

 the Mohave, such misconduct precedes the actualization of the budding 

 shaman's powers. Rather is this tolerance motivated by the belief that 

 the misconduct is a supernaturally and temperamentally determined 

 characteristic of the budding shaman, and cannot therefore be con- 

 trolled, either by an act of will on the part of the child, or by familial 

 and/or social pressures. "It is his nature, he cannot help it." Thus, 

 even though the behavior of Nyoltc Hukthar (Case 79) was deemed 

 delinquent and scandalous enough to earn her the lifelong nickname of 

 "crazy Nyoltc" ( hukthar = coyote = crazy), no real pressure seems to 

 have been put on her to make her behave, presumably because her 

 conduct conformed to, and did not exceed, the "pattern of misconduct" 

 (Linton, 1936) expected from budding shamans. By contrast, a great 

 deal of pressure was put on Nepe:he (Case 76), whose petty thefts 

 violated the basic Mohave value of honesty ®^ and did not fit the "social 

 image" of the "pattern of misconduct" which budding shamans are 

 expected to exhibit. Similarly today, when there seem to be more 

 than a few true juvenile delinquents among the Mohave, the tribe is 

 more disturbed by the gross violence and altogether "un-Mohave" 

 crimes against property than by the sexual acts of these acculturated 

 Mohave juvenile delinquents. It is also quite probable that, in earlier 



M A theft by a Mohave was an almost unheard-of occurrence. 



