398 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BnIL 175 



current calamity. "At other times warriors, wlio were sitting together, 

 making bows, arrows or war clubs, would say : 'Let us try our weapons 

 on a witch.' ^^ Then they would go and slay some witch who had been 

 giving offense to the tribe for some time." It is even possible to infer 

 that potential witch killers were more or less expected to receive public 

 encouragement. Thus, in the case published by Kroeber (1925 a, 

 1925 b; cf. Case 96), when some warriors killed a witch, more or less 

 on a sudden impulse, and then boasted of having done so, their audi- 

 ence thought they were simply announcing their intention to slay this 

 witch and encouraged them to go ahead with their plans. 



The hilling. — The statement that witch killings were called "steal- 

 ing" was unanimously denied by all of my informants. According 

 to the Mohave, in aboriginal times shamans were killed by taking them 

 to a momitain and stoning them to death.^^ Stratton's (1857) state- 

 ment that the Mohave used to burn witches alive was unanimously 

 denied by all informants. More recently, most witches were beaten 

 to death with sticks. In this context it is noteworthy that even 

 though witch killers were senior braves, whose official weapon is the 

 short club, witches were beaten to death with mere sticks, which are the 

 traditional weapons of apprentice warriors (Stewart, 1947 c; Fath- 

 auer, 1954) . The reason for the use of such second-line weapons in the 

 killing of witches could not be ascertained. In one instance the 

 killers used a piece of metal, apparently picked up in the vicinity of 

 the railroad shops (Case 103). The shaman whose killing was de- 

 scribed by Kroeber (1925 a, cf. Case 96) was slain with a steel ax and 

 so was the last witch to be killed (Case 104). Sahaykwisa: (=Masa- 

 hay Matkwisa :) (Devereux, 1937 b; and Case 105) was drowned while 

 intoxicated. Informants also spoke of plying a witch with drink 

 and then laying him on the railroad tracks or else stabbing him to 

 death, but could cite no concrete instances of such murders. One evil 

 shaman was killed by means of witchcraft (Case 101) . 



At present witches are no longer killed, since it is against the law 

 to do so. However, informants believe that even nowadays a person 

 accused of witchcraft may be beaten up by his victim's relatives. Be 

 that as it may, it is quite certain that Hivsu: Tuporma was deeply 

 hurt when Sudhu:ra's relatives (Case 44) talked of beating him up, 

 and felt convinced that they would carry out their plan. Wliat seems 

 to have prevented this attack was probably the more or less unanimous 

 feeling in the tribe that Hivsu : Tupo :ma had been unjustly accused of 

 having tried to harm his own patient. It is also worth noting that, 



•• AUhough this statement suggests that witches were slain with arrows, or with 

 clubs, the recorded slayings involved the use of less warlil^e means. Cf. immediately below. 



"- On the road from Tarker to the rock into which the incestuous couple mentioned in the 

 Tiima :np'a Utau :t cycle (Devereux, 1939 a; and pt. 7, jip. 356-371) was transformed, 

 there is a small pile of stones to which, for some unknown reason, each passer-by Is supposed 

 to add a stone. Whether this was a witch killing place could not be ascertained at this late 

 date. 



