Dovereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 335 



This matter is of such importance, that, in 1936, Hivsu : Tupo :ma was 

 asked to dictate his opinion in Mohave. Since Ilivsu : Tupo :ma was 

 not a first-rate linguistic informant, in 1950 the excellent linguistic 

 informant Pulyi :k was first asked to read the texts dictated by Hivsu : 

 Tupo :ma and was then asked to repeat them — if he agreed with the 

 statements — in his own words. For the sake of completeness both 

 versions are given. 



(1) Transversal (buttocks first) presentation was held by Ilivu: 

 Tupo :ma and Pulyi :k to be indicative of the fact that the stillborn 

 fetus was a shaman. 



nivsn: Tupo:ina's version: Kau :lym (how) yalynyidhu :tck (to think) 

 cuparum (they knew) hi-itckwa (they said) kwathidhe :y-nye (shaman he 

 was) ? (Why did they assume he was a shaman?) Hipa: ram (end, butt end) 

 suyavak (coming first) hidhu :m (it was) cupa :um (they knew) hi-itc-(i)ntaha 

 (they said already). (From the breech presentation they inferred and de- 

 clared that it was a shaman.) 



Puhji:k's version: This informant only modified the preceding text by placing 

 nipa:um before yalynyidhu :tck, and by replacing suyavak with cuya:itk. 



(2) The fact that the fetus killed its mother during birth was 

 held by Hivsu : Tupo :ma and Pulyi :k to prove that the fetus was 

 a shaman. 



Hivsu: Tiii)o:ma's version: Kwathidhey-pak (shaman) hidhu :m (he is) 

 hinta:y-nye (mother his) tapuypak (he killed) hidhu :m (he is) cupa :um 

 (they knew) hi-itc-(i)ntaha (they said already). (He is a shaman; he killed 

 his mother ; that is how they knew it and why they said it.) 



Piilyi:k's version: Kwathidhe ■.y'k (shaman) hidhu :m (he is) hamcuvya :(w)k 

 (butt end first) hitpa :kam (comes out) hidhu :m (he does) hi-inta :ye (his 

 mother) tapu :yam (kill) ha(w)-intaha (he does). (He is a shaman ; he comes 

 out butt end first, he kills his mother. ) 



These statements leave nothing to be desired in the way of explicit- 

 ness. One may add, however, that bewitched fetuses also behave in this 

 manner, which causes one to wonder in precisely what way — if any — 

 the Mohave differentiate, or profess to differentiate, between these 

 two types of death at birth since, despite careful inquiries, Hivsu: 

 Tupo :ma could only repeat the texts already quoted above. Likewise, 

 no informant could explain why the death of Hualy Hore :e in child- 

 birth (Case 83) was held to have been caused by her unborn child's 

 shaministic nature, rather than by witchcraft, or by a breach of 

 pregnancy taboos.^^ This inability to differentiate diagnostically 

 between these three types of obstetrical complications is rather strik- 

 ing. Indeed, as this work shows, the Mohave are, if anything, rather 

 overmeticulous diagnosticians, not adverse to splitting diagnostic 

 hairs in terms of their own nosological scheme. Their inability to 

 differentiate between these various obstetrical complications probably 

 explains why all such difficulties are treated by the same method, and 



^ For a possible explanation, see Case 83. 



