410 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



of nama: Utce:'s relatives. By contrast, in discussing the slaying of Ah'a 

 Kupa :m, the same Hama : Utce : vehemently condemned the killers and asserted, 

 without giving reasons, that Ah'a Kupa :m had not been a witch. (Case 100.) 

 There is an obvious contrast between these two reactions, but its causes could 

 not be definitely ascertained. One reason seems to be that when she first inter- 

 preted for me the case of Ah'a Kupa :m, she was under the impression that this 

 witch was somehow related to her. Whether or not this (mistaken?) belief 

 sufiices to account for the extreme contrast between her two reactions is a moot 

 question. 



CASE 102 (Informants : Hivsu : Tupo :ma and Hama : Utce :) : 



Kamaye :hue, of the Nyoltc gens, a 35-year-old f ullblood Mohave, specialized 

 in the cure of slow witchcraft — thatnyume: (u)k — (Devereux, 1937 c) and 

 became a practicing shaman at the age of 15. About 3 years before he was 

 killed, people began to say that he had bewitched four or five people he was 

 known to have liked, because he was supposed to be one of those witches who 

 kill only people they are fond of. 



His slaying occurred in connection with the death of Nyoltc, of the Nyoltc 

 gens, a 30- year-old fullblood married Mohave woman. Kamaye :hue is said to 

 have bewitched Nyoltc partly because he was fond of her and partly because he 

 hated her relatives. In other words, the witch harmed those he hated by killing 

 one of their relatives, thus causing them grief and distress. Since Nyoltc's 

 relatives suspected that she had been bewitched by Kamaye :hue, they told her : 

 "We will bring Kamaye :hue here, to cui*e you." The sick woman was, how- 

 ever, frightened and protested vigorously : "No, don't bring him here ! If you 

 do, I shall die!" Her relatives were, however, determined to force the witch 

 to cure his victim and therefore said: "We will bring him here to cure you, 

 and then we shall see what is to be done next. If you die, he too shall die !" 

 Then they went to Kamaye :hue's house and tried to persuade him to treat 

 Nyoltc but, even though they frankly told him that they suspected him of hav- 

 ing bewitched her, Kamaye :hue absolutely refused to treat her. In fact, ac- 

 cording to some informants, he even confessed to Nyoltc's relatives that he had 

 bewitched her. Soon after this fruitless discussion Nyoltc's condition began 

 to deteriorate quite rapidly. When, shortly afterwards, Nyoltc died, two of her 

 maternal uncles, Hukthar Humthuvi :ny, of the Mu :th gens, a 40-year-old full- 

 blood Mohave, and his half brother, Tceha :tce, of the Mah gens, a 35-year-old 

 fullblood Mohave shaman specializing in the cure of spider bites, decided to 

 kill the witch. One afternoon they went to Kamaye time's house, which was lo- 

 cated opposite Avi : Vata :y (Riverside Mountains) and, in the presence of 

 Kamaye :hue's relatives, beat him to death with sticks. The witch's relatives, 

 believing him to be guilty, did nothing to protect him and did not even try to 

 take revenge on the killers. In fact, "the matter was hushed up so effectively 

 that Mr. Clark, who succeeded Colonel Hugh as superintendent of the Mohave 

 Reservation, never even heard of this murder." 



Comment 



Several informants said that the victim, Nyoltc, was Kamaye :hue's sister's 

 daughter, while informant Pulyi :k insisted that she was not related to him in 

 any way. This denial is entirely credible for several reasons : 



(1) Had Kamaye :hue been Nyoltc's maternal uncle, his killers, who were 

 also the victim's maternal uncles, would have had to be Kamaye :hue's brothers 

 or at least half-brothers, which would have made the murder a particularly 

 horrible affair. Since not even those informants who said that Kamaye. 'hue 

 was Nyoltc's maternal uncle said anything about Kamaye :hue'8 murderers 



