Devereus] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 337 



istic rites for the alleviation of obstetrical difficulties caused by the 

 self-destructive and murderous behavior of unborn shamans and be- 

 witched fetuses. 



The obstetrician Ahma Huma :re said that he first spoke to the woman from a 

 distance, either in a language that can be understood, or else in a language tliat 

 cannot be understood.^' He then circles the woman clockwise, singing one 

 song each from the South (right arm of the woman), the West (left arm), the 

 North (left leg) and the East (right leg). At each of these stops he also talks 

 to the unborn child, asking it to emerge the natural way, saying: "If you come 

 out the natural way, your example will be followed by the Mohave still to be 

 born and the tribe will increase. If, however, you do not come out, your bad 

 example will also be followed by children yet unborn and then there will be 

 no new generation to follow ours and perpetuate the tribe." Ahma Iluma :re 

 then confidently declared that, after he spoke to the child from all four directions, 

 it would be bom regardless of what the diflSculty might have been.*^ 



This last statement implies that even though the obstetrical diffi- 

 culties may have been due to witchcraft — which is said to be very 

 hard to treat — or to a violation of some pregnancy taboo (Devereux, 

 1948 b), these difficulties are, in the last resort, also referable 

 to Matavilye's difficult birth, which was due solely to his reluctance 

 to be born. Be that as it may, it was specifically asserted that 

 bewitched fetuses respond to this treatment quite as satisfactorily as 

 future shamans do. 



It should be noted in passing that obstetrical shamans apparently 

 do not knead the woman's abdomen and do not perform an internal 

 examination. Thus, a medical account of Mohave obstetrics (Nettle, 

 MS., n. d. ; cf. Devereux, 1948 e) stated quite explicitly that 

 the kneading of the abdomen is performed by nonshamanistic persons, 

 before the obstetrical shaman is called in. Hrdlicka (1908) also stated 

 that, in case of severe distress, the woman is examined internally, but 

 did not specify whether this is done by shamans or by lay midwives. 

 The data obtained both from Ahma Huma :re, who was an obstetrical 

 shaman, and from Hivsu: Tupo:ma, who appears to have described 

 Harav Herya's modus operandi (Devereux, 1948 e), suggest that no 

 internal examinations are performed by shamans.*^ 



The shaman's appeals to the unborn child's reason, sense of fairness 

 and responsibility for the perpetuation of the tribe vividly underline 

 two salient features of the Mohave world view : The notion that tribal 

 continuity is the responsibility of everyone, and the view that even 



" In my article on obstetrics (Devereux, 1948 e) I suggested that the "unknown tongue" 

 was probably an archaic Mohave text. I would now add that the "understandable" tongue 

 may refer to a recital of the prose version of the relevant myth, in more or less ordinary 

 language. (For a justification of this view cf. Devereux, 1957 b.) 



85 Being an honest man, Ahma Huma:re added, somewhat regretfully, that "nowadays 

 all the women call in the reservation physician. Hence, even though I have the power to 

 help in cases of difficult birth, so far I have not yet been called upon to help, though people 

 do consult me for other ailments which I can cure." This statement highlights the Mohave 

 shaman's faith in his own untested powers. 



88 Female obstetrical shamans were not mentioned by any Informant. 



