400 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 178 



The Moliave as a whole are undecided whether American interfer- 

 ence with the slaying of witches — a "meddling" which they resent on 

 principle — increased or decreased the number of deaths due to witch- 

 craft. The following discussion between Tcatc and Hama : Utce : re- 

 flects clearly the extent to which the ISIohave are of two minds about 

 the current status of witchcraft. 



Tcatc: Nowadays they don't kill witches anymore. They are afraid of the 

 American law. That is why, nowadays, whole families are wiped out by witches. 

 Witches have become bolder than ever before. 



Hama: Utce: As far as I can see, now that witches no longer manage to get 

 themselves killed, the number of deaths due to witchcraft has fallen off. More- 

 over, nowadays there are fewer shamans than there were formerly. In the past, 

 there were many shamans. In aboriginal times, when someone bewitched a 

 shaman's relative,"* the bereaved shaman retaliated by bewitching the witch. 

 Anyhow, I can't see why a witch, who knows in advance that he will die a natural 

 death, and will therefore inevitably lose his hold over his victims, should bother 

 to bewitch anyone nowadays." 



Tcatc: They continue to bewitch people because, until they themselves die, 

 they can at least dream of their victims and can have intercourse with them in 

 dream. 



The reactions of the witch's own relatives were variable. If they 

 were convinced of the murdered shaman's guilt, and especially if they 

 felt that he had bewitched his own relatives, they were the first to 

 condemn him, refused to protect him from his assailants, and did not 

 seek to punish the killers afterward. If, however, they believed the 

 accused witch to be innocent, they tried to prevent his slaying and, 

 if they could not prevent it, they subsequently fought with the witch- 

 killing braves with sticks (Kroeber, 1925 a, 1925 b), sometimes even 

 donning war paint for this purpose. 



It is interesting to note in this context that the contemporary 

 Mohave continue to have strong opinions and feelings about the guilt 

 or innocence of witches slain several decades ago. Thus, Hama : Utce : 

 gloated over the slaying of one alleged witch (Case 101), but angrily 

 condemned the murder of another, who, according to some, was a 

 relative of hers, and whom she believed to have been innocent (Case 

 100). The point to be stressed here is that both of these slayings 

 occurred so long ago that she probably had no personal memories of 

 either of these men. 



The attitude of shamans toward the slaying of witches deserves 

 special mention. It was repeatedly stated that all shamans — and not 

 only witches — are reluctant to live very long (Kroeber, 1925 a; Dev- 

 ereux, 19,37 c; McNichols, 1944). Thus, when Hivsu: Tupo:ma dis- 

 cussed the obsolescence of witchcraft he said : "In times of old I would 



w Compare, above, the custom of bewitching the relative of someone whom one hates, 

 so as to grieve the hated person. 



" It is probable that Hama : Utce : emphasized the decline of witchcraft because she 

 tried to reassure herself that her fear that Kwathany HI ivca might bewitch her entire 

 family was unwarranted. 



