Devercux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 417 



ants stressed that she was "rich enough to wear real shoes," and not just Mohave 

 sandals (Drucker, 1941), because she occasionally prostituted herself to whites,*' 

 though part of her relative prosperity was due to her being an industrious farmer 

 and hunter, as well as a practicing shaman specializing in the treatment of 

 venereal diseases. Since such specialists are, by definition, lucky in love, it is 

 likely that her striking ability to find wives was only partly due to her well- 

 deserved reputation of being a good provider. The principal reason for her 

 marked success in obtaining wives was probably the belief that, being a specialist 

 in venereal diseases, she was necessarily lucky in love.®* 



In addition to functioning as a healer, Sahaykwisa : also began to practice 

 witchcraft in her middle twenties, but was not accused of being a witch until 

 some 5 years later. 



The first of Sahaykwisa :'s wives to be mentioned by the chief informant was 

 a very pretty girl, whom many men tried to lure away from her "husband" by 

 ridiculing the lesbian. Thus, one suitor said : "Why do you want hwame : for 

 a husband? Hwame : mutonem non habet et mero digito fodicat." Sahaykwisa :'s 

 wife was, however, not impressed by this argument, and replied : "That is all 

 right for me, if I wish to remain with her," whereupon her suitor gave up and 

 left her alone. However, shortly thereafter another suitor appeared on the 

 scene and also tried to persuade her to leave her "husband," saying : "Mentula 

 ei non est ; est sicut tu ipsa. If you remain with her, no 'other' man "^ will want 

 you afterwards." ^ Finally, even though Sahaykwisa : was an excellent provider, 

 who cultivated her fields well and did all the work a husband is supposed to do,°' 

 her wife liked the second suitor well enough to elope with him. After her wife 

 left her, Sahaykwisa : began to attend dances and flirted with girls who were 

 present, which caused a man, who noticed this, to say sneeringly : "Why don't 

 you leave those women alone? You can't do anything with them anyway!" 

 Behind her back people even called her Hispan Kudlia:pe ( = vagina scissa), 

 id quod tribadis schema significat."* However, since this is a bad insult, no one 

 dared to call her Hispan Kudha :pe to her face. 



Before Sahaykwisa : could induce another girl to marry her, her former wife, 

 who had eloped with a man, decided to return to her. "Despite his boasts, she 

 found him less satisfying than Sahaykwisa : had been." The male husband let 

 her go and did nothing further about it. 



After regaining her wife, Sahaykwisa : often took her to dances. At such 

 gatherings the hwame : sat with the men and, boasting in a typically masculine 

 manner, described to them the pudenda of "his" wife. However, while 

 Sahaykwisa : was busy boasting, people teased her wife, saying : " 'Viro' tuo 



"3 Lesbianism is far from rare among prostitutes. 



** It Is a well-known fact that a reputation of Irresistibility enables even homely men 

 and women to make amorous conquests. Thus, the hunchbacked Francois de Montmorency- 

 Boutteville, Due de Luxembourg (known as the Margchal de Luxembourg), was a noto- 

 riously successful amorist. 



^ When ridiculing a transvestlte, the Mohave refer to a transvestite's anatomical sex ; 

 otherwise they refer to the transvestite's adopted sex. In this Instance, however, In order 

 to make his point, the sarcastic suitor had to refer to Sahaykwisa : as a "man." 



^Arguments of this type are also used In order to shnme people married to persons 

 much older than themselves. Thus, a man may be told by a girl that he smells of the old 

 woman whom he married (Devereux, 1951 f ). 



■*' The only men who did women's work were older men who married prepubescent chil- 

 dren (Devereux, 1951 f) and famous warriors who voluntarily did household chores for sick 

 families (Stewart, 1947 c), presumably because they were quite certain of their masculinity 

 (Devereux and Weiner, 1950). 



^ Tribades quae schema quod hispan kudha :pe vocatur usurpare cuplunt, capltlbus 

 aversls decumbunt, altera in dorse, altera In latere recubans ; ambaeque Ita Intertextae 

 sunt, ut utraque truncum alterlus prenset inter femura sua, volvam fricans contra volvam 

 sociae. 



