Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 389 



Concealment vs. confession. — The Mohave are firmly convinced that 

 every murdered witch committed vicarious suicide, even if he did not 

 confess his crimes in so many words. It is therefore necessary to dis- 

 cuss in some detail the means whereby a witch — who is not, as yet, 

 ready to let himself be killed — manages to conceal his identity. In 

 fact, the confessions of the witch cannot be effectively discussed apart 

 from the means he may use for disguising his identity. 



(I) Concealment may take place either before or after the death of 

 the victim. 



(A) Concealment before the victim, dies: 



(1) A witch who has power over a disease which other shamans 

 can also cause and cure, can inflict this illness upon his victims without 

 thereby revealing his identity. 



(2) The witch may appear to the victim in dream, in the guise of 

 an animal, and especially of a bull (pt. 2, pp. 40-72). 



(3) A very powerful witch can, by "using his breath," purloin the 

 shadow (soul, image, appearance) of a less powerful shaman and 

 appear to his victim in dream in that disguise, in order to divert 

 suspicion to another shaman. It is said that Sudhu:ra (Case 44) 

 accused Hivsu : Tupo :ma of having bewitched him, because a witch 

 had purloined Hivsu : Tupo :ma's shadow and appeared to his victim 

 in that disguise. 



(4) He may "seal" his victim's lips, so that the bewitched patient 

 will be either unable or unwilling to reveal the witch's identity to the 

 therapist. This disguise is especially effective when the patient 

 actually wishes to become the victim of the witch (pt. 7, pp. 371-386). 



(5) The witch may use the type of witchcraft (Devereux, 1937 c) 

 which fells the victim before he can reveal the name of the person who 

 bewitched him. 



These disguises and concealments are usually effective, except in 

 cases where the victim's therapist is so powerful that he can overcome 

 every obstacle the witch may place in the therapist's path. 



(B) Disposal of the post-mortem evidence. — It is, in principle, quite 

 possible for a bewitched person to die without anyone suspecting that 

 the death was caused by witchcraft. However, the behavior of the 

 bewitched corpse on the funeral pyre automatically proclaims that 

 death was not due to natural causes, and there is nothing the witch 

 himself can do to prevent the corpse from revealing this fact. Hence, 

 shortly after the cremation, the witch must take special precautions to 

 prevent his victim's "heart" from betraying him. For reasons of ex- 

 pository convenience we will describe first the atypical behavior of the 

 corpses of bewitched persons, and will then proceed to discuss the 

 witch's attempt to silence his victim's heart. 



