434 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



will be possible to show, however, that, if the Mohave statement con- 

 cerning the ratio between men and women trying to jump on the 

 funeral pyre is not interpreted numerically but 'psychologically (char- 

 acterologically), the Mohave are right in viewing funeral suicide as 

 a markedly female reaction pattern. (See below. ) 



The technique. — Suicide by fire in the couree of a funeral is, strictly 

 speaking, the only ritual form of actual self-destruction in Mohave 

 society. This finding is strongly supported by the fact that the only 

 other type of ritual "suicide" in Mohave culture occurs at incestuous 

 weddings, which closely resemble funeral rites (pt. 7, pp. 356-371). 

 By contrast, even though witeh killing is an important Mohave cus- 

 tom, the actual murder is a nonritual act., performed in whatever way 

 seems most practical under the circumstances (pt. 7, pp. 387-426). 



On the whole, suicide by fire is a ritual act in nearly all cultures 

 where it occurs and appears to be characteristic especially of so- 

 cieties where corpses are cremated — presumably because suicide by fire 

 condenses into a single act both death and cremation. As regards 

 the Mohave, it is almost certain that suicide by fire represents such a 

 condensation, since they are markedly inclined to indulge in con- 

 densations (Devereux, 1957 b). Moreover, a Mohave, who actually 

 manages to kill himself by jumping on the funeral pyre of a spouse 

 or relative, is sure to enter the land of the dead at the same time as 

 the deceased and to go through all future metamorphoses in the com- 

 pany of the person from whom he does not wish to be separated. 

 This, needless to say, is precisely the real objective of fmieral suicide. 



In this context, it seems important to mention the possibly 

 highly significant fact that the Mohave were formerly so markedly 

 overhasty in cremating people that the Indian Agency sometimes 

 sent a native policeman to the camp of a person known to be on the 

 verge of death, to make sure that the ailing person was actually dead 

 before being placed on the funeral pyre (McNichols, 1944) . Whether 

 there was some cultural or psychological connection between this 

 inish to cremate tlie dead and the custom of tiying to commit suicide 

 by fire can probably no longer be ascei-tained at this late date. 



It is also quite likely that even if suicide by fire were not frequently 

 associated with the cremation of corpses, it would still tend to be 

 viewed as a ritual act, simply because it is a singularly dramatic 

 gesture, which not only puts an end to life, but also utterly destroys 

 the body.3» 



»»The dramatic character of suicide by Are may explain why Herakles — whom Greek 

 mythology describes as an emotionally immature, inordinately vain, exhibitiouistic, 

 bisexual, and even manic-depressive personality — chose to commit suicide by fire precisely 

 while Nessus' shirt was already burning into his flesh. To the best of my knowledge it 

 has not yet been pointed out that Herakles' suicide by fire implies — if Herakles was a real 

 Dorian chieftain — that he lived at a time when the Greeks practiced funeral cremation, or 

 else, if he Is a purely Imaginary mythical personage, that at least the story of his suicide 

 came into being during the period when the Greeks still practiced cremation. 



