280 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



for his age, and his having contracted gonorrhea a commonplace misfortune. 

 The mother's punitive reaction presumably did not reflect moral condemnation, 

 but simply represented a personal reaction of anger over a difficult and "messy" 

 situation, which could have easily led to administrative difficulties with the 

 Agency. 



It is especially significant for a proper evaluation of Hamteya :u's delinquency, 

 which was so labeled by the Mohave themselves, that no one considered him to 

 be a budding shaman or witch, even though he belonged to a family in which 

 shamans and witches are said to be quite numerous." This means that his 

 misconduct diverged so extensively from the "pattern of misconduct" usually 

 exhibited by budding shamans that not even his membership in a notoriously 

 shamanistic family could persuade the Mohave that he was simply a typically 

 "difficult" future shaman, rather than a genuine neurotic delinquent. It should 

 also be noted that, quite unlike Case 78, Hamteya :u himself did not plan 

 or wish to become a shaman, presumably because he sensed that becoming a 

 shaman would not solve his highly idiosyncratic problems. Thus, Hamteya :u 

 should be viewed psychiatrically, culturally, and in terms of his self -appraisal as 

 well, strictly as a neurotic delinquent. 



CASE 78 (Informants: The subject and Hitcu :y Kutask(w)elva) : 



I am 12 years old. I am in the fourth grade and get D's and B's in school. 

 JNIy mother's name is Mah. My stepfather is T. D. The three of us live together. 

 My father is dead. [To what gens did your father belong— I mean what is 

 your gens?] I don't know. [Q] I have no siblings. My mother and stepfather 

 treat me well. 



[Q] I play with several Mohave kids; I play with Hamteya :u (Case 77) 

 D. S., L. S., a Yuma boy named G., and with the interpreter. I also play with 

 two American boys: O. J. Sk. and P. Sm. [Do you play with Mexican kids 

 too?] Yes— with D. M. and M. M. and with R. P. [Why don't you play with 

 girls as well?] I do not like it. 



[Do you get beaten at home?] No, I am neither beaten nor punished. [Are 

 you in good health ?] I had measles a long time ago. I stayed home ; they did 

 not take me to the hospital. [Q] They feed me well at home. [Q] No one is 

 mean to me, and I am not mad at anyone. [Q] I speak mostly Mohave at home, 

 but I am not told Mohave stories and no one teaches me Mohave customs at home. 



[Q] I have dreams and remember them. [Q] I have never been drunk in my 

 life. [Q] I smoke cigarettes and any other tobacco I can get hold of. 



[Q] Ego numquam coii. [Hitcu :y Kutask(w)elva, qui est amicus Case 78, 

 hoe dicto non confisus sodalem sua sponte interrogavit, nonnullarum mentionem 

 faciens tenerae aetatis puellarum. Case 78 se coitum expertum esse negabat, 

 sed furtim cachinnabat ita ut manifeste dicto suo contradiceret.] 



[Q] Habeo somnos humidos — de grandibus puellis plus XIV annorum." 

 [Q] Ego non onanizo. [Cum interpres iterum sua sponte Case 78 rogaret, 

 plane dubitans de eo quod dixerat.] Sane, inquit, aliquando onanizo. Ut 

 verum tibi dicam, coil cum puella XIII annorum cui nomen est Mah. (Same gens 

 as his mother.) Come to think of it, I must belong to the Mah gens— at least 

 I think I do.=* Saepe cum Mah coivi. [Q] Per vim cum ilia concumbere 

 coepi. W. H. et ego illam rapuimus : clamitabat puella sed non destitimus, etiani 



^ The Mohave believe that shamanistic powers run in certain families (Devereux, 1937 c). 



10 A Rill of 14 rates and functions as a woman in Mohave society (Devereux, 1951 d). 



=0 This is unlikely, since his mother is of that gens. His error may be due gymptomatically 

 to perseveration, dynamically to oedipal impulses, which become intensified during puberty 

 and socially from the lack of a father (cf. Case 77). 



