362 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



completely confirmed by the fact that sexual life, promiscuousness, 

 and nonincestuous "marriages" were established earlier by Thrasher 

 and Mockingbird, in accordance with Mastamlio's instructions 

 (Kroeber, 1948), and were — according to another version (Devereux, 

 1948 f) — first taught 'practically by Matavilye's daughter Bull- 

 frog, who cohabited promiscuously with all living creatures. It is, 

 moreover, of great interest to note that the myth instituting sexual 

 life devotes far more space to promiscuousness than to marriage, un- 

 derscores the desultory nature of courtship and the lability of ordinary 

 marriages, and stresses the venereal diseases which are contracted 

 through sexual relationships. One particularly illuminating passage 

 (Kroeber, 1948, p. 65, paragraph 91) shows that the woman's simple 

 willingness to allow a man to take her hand is labeled "marriage," 

 in a casual, amused way. The actual text runs: "Then they said: 

 'That man has her; he is married to her.' And all laughed. ''"' (My 

 italics.) 



By contrast, unlike Bullfrog, who set a precedent for mere co- 

 habitation, and unlike the personages mentioned in the Mastamho 

 cycle (Kroeber, 1948), who set a precedent chiefly for courtship and 

 also for promiscuousness, the brother-sister couple of the Tuma : np'a 

 myth set a precedent for actual marriage, which is even "immortal- 

 ized," since the incestuous spouses were turned into rocks for all times, 

 in the very act of "kissing," though kissing among the Mohave may 

 be a practice acquired through acculturation. 



In brief, Mohave mythology accounts separately for the origins of 

 mere sex life and for the origins of "real" marriage. The Mastamho 

 myth discusses primarily courtship, promiscuousness and — almost as 

 an afterthought — ordinary, casual, nonincestuous marriages, con- 

 tracted without any formality and lasting only until one wearies of 

 them, or decides to contract another marriage. Likewise, the related 

 story of Bullfrog's promiscuousness sets a precedent only for sexual 

 intercourse. Finally, the Mastamho myth does not state in so many 

 words that the actual "marriages" it mentions were contracted 

 for the purpose of setting a precedent ; or, if one wishes, these 

 marriages constitute precedents only because they happened at the 

 time of creation. By contrast, the brother and sister couple married 

 specifically in order to establish the custom of marriage; their own 

 being a marriage which endures in stone to this very day, exactly as 

 incestuous marriages — and the marriages of heavenly twins — are sup- 

 posed to last forever. 



In brief, nonincestuous sexuality, promiscuousness, and casual mar- 

 riages, at which "all laugh," are accounted for by one myth, while 

 real and lasting (i.e., incestuous) marriages are accounted for by an- 

 other myth. 



