404 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



man was killed, indicate that the victim had been suspected of witchcraft, pos- 

 sibly even by his own son, since the latter announced that he decided not to 

 fight his father's slayers. The almost incredible casualness of the killers' impulse 

 and plotting vividly illustrates Kroeber's (1951) analysis of the Mohave tend- 

 ency to behave in an aimlessly impulsive manner — seemingly motivated by bore- 

 dom — even in situations of some magnitude which would seem to call for careful 

 planning and systematically goal-directed behavior. 



Psychologically as well as culturally the most interesting part of this narra- 

 tive is, however, the incredibly clumsy and panicky manner in which this sleeping 

 shaman was slain. A determined man, fully convinced that his deed was right- 

 eous, could have killed the sleeping witch with a single blow of his steel as. 

 The fact that it took two men to butcher the witch piecemeal suggests, at the 

 lowest estimate, that they were quite ambivalent about slaying a fellow Mohave. 

 It is, moreover, extremely probable that the clumsiness was also due to the fact 

 that the slayers were almost paralyzed with fright, presumably because the 

 slaying of witches is thought of as an inherently dangerous act, as is shown 

 by the belief that witch killers may become psychotic (pt. 2, pp. 45-46). The 

 whole incident forcibly reminds one of the fact that, according to the Malay 

 national epic "Hikayat Hang Tuah" (Anonymous n.d.), armed warriors often 

 scatter in panic — some men even defecating from fright — when attacked by a 

 single amok runner." This explains why the Mohave are convinced that witch 

 killers usually are not only noted braves but also shamans and witches.'* 



CASE 97 (Informants : Hivsu : Tupo :ma and Hama : Utce :) : 



Hi :wa Maa :ma, of Fort Mohave, whose vital statistics are no longer remem- 

 bered, had the power to cause as well as to cure the types of convulsive seizures 

 ("fits") which are believed to result from excessive masturbation (pt. 2, pp. 

 71-81). 



Hi :wa Maa :ma bewitched several women between the ages of 35 and 40, 

 as well as some men and children, causing them to develop convulsive seizures. 

 My informants specified that this witch "gave his victims fits" without having 

 to compel them, by means of witchcraft, to engage in masturbation. 



"Eventually he was killed. We do not know who did it, or how it happened. 

 They just sent word that he had been killed." 



Comment 



The fact that Hi :wa Maa :ma's victims also included men and children makes 

 it quite certain that his evil powers did not cause the type of sexual insanity 

 which results from witchcraft of a certain type (pt. 2, pp. 87-S9). Hence, from 

 the Mohave point of view, his acts of witchcraft had no explicit and specific sex- 

 ual component; he sent these "fits" not because he was sexually interested in 

 his victims, but because he could only cause an illness which he was also qualified 

 to cure. Needless to say, his choice of this particular specialty must have had 



"Some of the fantastic-seeming feats ascribed to "battle mad" warriors In medieval 

 stories become quite credible if one assumes — as one is entitled to do — that their battle 

 madness paralyzed their opponents with fright. Compare in this context the seemingly 

 inexplicable flight of Hector, when attacked by a thoroughly aroused Achilles ("Iliad") 

 or the puzzling fact that one of Harald Hardraade's berserl^ers was able to hold Stam- 

 ford bridge against whole units of the army of Harold of England. 



'* The entire plot of the "Hikayat Hang Tuah" (Anonymous n.d.) shows that slaying 

 an amok runner is considered more heroic than defeating a lar^e body of pirates or 

 warriors. 



