Devereus] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 355 



tales of tlieir nature. At the same time the Mohave's resentment over 

 this uncalled for and inconsiderate behavior finds expression in the 

 secondary pattern, which views twins as acquisitive ghosts. All of 

 this proves that one is not dealing here with a superficial difference 

 betAveen "priestly" and "lay" knowledge, but with certain basic prob- 

 lems of the place of attitudes in culture. This is also proved by the 

 sj'ncretism evident in Case 87. 



CASE 85 (Informants: Hivsu: Tuporma and Hama: Utce:) (1936) : 



Mah, of the Mah gens, bore her lover Kalowe : twin boys, who were 4 months 

 old in November 1936. One of the boys allegedly had a "hydrocephalus" (sic!). 

 "This boy intended to die that way. He does not like the family. He just 

 makes himself and everyone else miserable that way, before he dies." 



Comment 



The most striking part of this account is the remark that the child "makes 

 himself and everyone else miserable." Hivsu : Tupo : ma used almost the same 

 words in characterizing the fretful behavior of children suffering from tavak- 

 nyi:k. (pt. 7, pp. 340-348). Although the cause of this boy's dislike for his 

 parents was not explained, it is possible to infer that the Mohave felt that he 

 had good reasons for being displeased with them, since Kalowe :, not being 

 married to Mah, apparently did not contribute to their support. 



CASE 86 (Informants: Hivsu: Tupo:ma and Hama: Utce:) (1936) : 



Mu : th, of the Mu : th gens, a 24- to 27-year-old Mohave woman, bore her 

 Chemehuevi husband A. P. twins, who were stillborn "because they decided 

 already in the womb that they did not care for the family into which they 

 were about to be born." 



Comment 



Although the informants did not specifically explain why these twins disliked 

 their prospective family, they did hint in a roundabout way that the children 

 simply did not wish to be born half Chemehuevi. It should be remembered 

 in this context that, in 1936, the older Mohave were far more contemptuous 

 of the Chemehuevi than was the much younger E. S. in 1938 (Case 76). 



CASE 87 (Informants: Tcatc and Hama: Utce:) : 



Once I (Tcatc) asked an old woman named Kunyii:th, of the Kunyii:th 

 gens, just why she disliked certain people. She told me that if a person whom 

 she disliked came to eat her food, and if she then ate of that self-same food 

 afterwards, she would hemorrhage from the mouth and would lose her appetite. 

 I also asked her whether her home was really in heaven (ama:y) and she 

 replied that she and other heavenly twins lived there just like any other Mo- 

 have, but that sometimes they were out of clothing and even hungry. When 

 that happened, they would ask someone to come to earth for these things." I 

 ciid not quite believe her, but Kunyii : th insisted that she was telling me the 

 truth. She had lost a son (on earth) and was downhearted. She told me 

 that she was leaving (the earth) and she did die (fairly soon afterwards). 

 This old woman's twin sister had died when her mother died, because she 

 did not feel like living. 



^ This is clearly syncretlstic in that It seeks to reconcile the two different patterns. 



