DeTereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SXnCIDE 399 



when Hivsu: Tupo:ma confessed to me that he, himself, had be- 

 witched certain persons — though not Sudhu :ra — he begged me not to 

 tell this to anyone, lest he should suffer bodily harm. 



In theory, witch killing is now obsolete — but it is well to recall that 

 it was stated to be obsolete already in the middle thirties (Case 100), 

 i.e., only 2 years or so before a new witch killing took place (Case 104) . 

 Thus, since Mohave shamanism is still very much alive, it would be 

 hazardous indeed to predict that no further witch killings will occur 

 among the Mohave. 



Attitudes toward witch killings cannot be fully understood unless 

 one discusses also the Mohave attitude toward the shaman, the witch 

 and toward the general misbehavior of shamans and witches, which 

 was described elsewhere (pt. 6, pp. 282-285) in some detail and may be 

 briefly simimed up by saying that the possession of shamanistic powers 

 is not viewed as a localized and circumscribed function, but one which 

 affects the shaman's entire psychic makeup and behavior pattern. 

 Hence, all objectionable actions performed by shamans are accounted 

 for by the remark: "It is their nature, they cannot help it." The 

 Mohave Indian's view of the shaman's destructive impulses, imple- 

 mented by means of witchcraft, was described as follows : 



Tcatc's statement (1938) : Shamans cannot control themselves. They will 

 do iinything. Their power makes them act that way. It makes them crazy. 

 Nothing is too low for them. Others sometimes marry their cousins (Devereux, 

 1939 a ; and pt. 7, pp. 356-371) , but shamans commit incest with their nearest kin. 

 They also like to bewitch their own relatives. [Are they incestuous because they 

 hav(i intrauterine memories and shamanistic dreams?] No. They just want to 

 do awful things. When they begin to cure, they quiet down. They become almost 

 human." 



Similar views are voiced even by such highly educated persons as 

 Hama: Utce:, who occasionally seemed almost obsessed with the idea 

 that Kwathany Hi:wa — who was perhaps married for a time 

 to a relative of hers — was trying to bewitch her entire family. Hence, 

 whenever this fear was present in her mind, she spoke angrily and 

 contemptuously of all shamans, calling them "cowards at heart," and 

 gloating over the death of a certain witch who had been slain several 

 decades earlier (Case 101). 



Turning now to attitudes toward witch killings, as a rule both the 

 victim's own relatives and the tribe as a whole felt that the killing of 

 witches was a socially beneficial action, so that, in aboriginal times, 

 braves were openly encouraged to kill witches who threatened the wel- 

 fare of the community (Kroeber, 1925 a). Even as late as the 1930's, 

 the tribe as a whole made considerable efforts to save two persons who 

 had killed a witch, by sending some "good shamans" to testify in court 

 that the murdered witch was a public menace (Case 104). 



•* Note the clipped, "preaching" style of the Mohave orator, which Is often used also In 

 making especially emphatic statements. 



