458 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 176 



Anyanyema :m had not only proved to be stingy, but added insult to injury by 

 displaying this strongly disapproved trait toward his own son. This may explain 

 the extraordinary vindictiveness of the faiaily, which blatoed him for his son's 

 death to the end of his life. In so doing, they rejected their kinsman 

 Anyanyema :m, presumably in order to dissociate themselves from his heinous 

 deed ; the Mohave value system, backed up by public opinion, outweighing in this 

 instance the ties of kinship. Such a breakdown of family loyalty is quite un- 

 usual, except in cases where the rejected relative is believed to be a witch.® At 

 the same time, they did not reject him to the point of allowing him to commit 

 fvmeral suicide. 



One possible reason why Anyanyema :m tried to kill himself, whereas the 

 Mohave father who nagged his son to divorce his unfaithful wife until the son 

 killed himself (Case 116) did not, may be that Anyanyema :m was married to 

 a Yuma woman among whom, according to A. M. Halpern (1938), funeral suicide 

 was somewhat more common than among the Mohave. Of course, the other 

 father violated only the relatively minor rule that one should not interfere with 

 quarreling spouses (Devereux, MS., 1935), whereas Anyanyema :m violated one 

 of the cardinal values of Mohave ethics. 



It seems probable that, in attempting to leap on his son's pyre, Anyanyema :m 

 not only tried to alleviate his own guilt feelings, but also sought to appease his 

 indignant relatives. Since, unfortunately for him, such techniques of appease- 

 ment are completely at variance with Mohave culture and character, his grand 

 gesture was, both psychologically and practically, a waste of effort. His 

 thoroughly aroused kin group failed to respond to his gesture with sympathy 

 and forgiveness and continued to blame him for his son's death to the bitter end. 

 The fact that, despite their disapproval, they did prevent him from immolating 

 himself was merely an automatic cultural response and not a token of their 

 forgiveness. 



A whole series of facts suggest that Anyanyema :m was an altogether atypical 

 and deviant person : 



(1) He was sufGcIently familiar with whites to be known, even among the 

 Mohave, by the English name "Slim Jim." 



(2) He married an alien (Yuma) woman. 



(3) He was, by Mohave standards, unduly interested in horses.*" 



(4) He was stingy, even toward his son, whom he nagged until the son com- 

 mited suicide. 



(5) Acting in a wholly un-Mohave manner, he apparently tried to obtain 

 sympathy and forgiveness by a grandiose expiatory gesture. 



(6) Unlike most Mohave, he smoked excessively, which suggests that, at least 

 by Mohave standards, he was a somewhat tense person, though his tenseness 

 and excessive smoking may, perhaps, have appeared only after his son's tragic 

 death. 



The last point which calls for a comment is llama : Utce :'s grim concluding 

 remark, that it must be dreadful to have to live on and on, after causing some- 

 one's death. While the remark itself simply mirrors a basic Mohave — and 



'•The Mohave would rather allow a brazenly exploitive atypical relative to take 

 advantape of them, than deny support to a kinsman. Thus, when the very propresalve 

 Hama : Utce : and her husband Suniuramur& complained that the husband's fairly well- 

 to-do and able-bodied nncle exploited them quite openly, and I ventured to suggest that 

 they let him fend for himself, this progressive couple was almost horrified by my sug- 

 gestion, saying that they would rather allow themselves to be exploited, than refuse support 

 to a close relative. 



•o The Mohave were neither enthusiastic, nor accomplished horsemen. They despised 

 "nneportsmanllke" tribes that fought on horseback and ridiculed those younger men 

 who went "name traveling" astride a horse (McNlchols, 1944 ; cf. also Dobyns et al., 

 1957). 



