460 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



covered in part 7 (pp. 286-329) , or are best mentioned in the comments 

 which follow the individual case histories. 



The present section is therefore devoted primarily to a discussion 

 of the single most characteristic feature of active suicides: their 

 tendency to occur in clusters. 



The clustering of Mohave suicides. — Perhaps the most striking way 

 of showing that clustering is a basic characteristic of the Mohave 

 suicide complex is to contrast clustered suicides as a group with un- 

 clustered suicides as a group. 



(1) Frequencies. — Cases of suicide, of attempted suicide, and of 

 suicidal preoccupations occurring in clusters, outnumber unclustered 

 suicides 14 to 6. In fact, even the absolute number of clusters is greater 

 than the absolute number of unclustered suicide cases^ the former 

 outnumbering the latter 7 to 6. 



(2) Typical vs. atypical motivation. — x\typical or socially disap- 

 proved types of motivation are more frequently present in unclustered 

 than in clustered suicides. Thus : 



{a) The Mohave disapprove of extreme emotional reactions to 

 adultery, divorce and desertion. Hence, only 2 out of 14 

 cases of clustered suicides are definitely due to the adultery 

 of the wife (Cases 117 and 120) — Case 122 being ambiguous — 

 whereas 3 of the 6 unclustered cases of suicide are attribu- 

 table to infidelity (Cases 125, 126, 127). This statement 

 disregards the case of a man (Case 116) whose father drove 

 him to suicide by pestering him to divorce liis adulterous 

 wife. 



(5) Not one of the 14 clustered cases, as against 3 of the 6 single 

 suicides (Cases 106, 123, and 124), was actually due to a real 

 isolation of the suicide, which is an altogether exceptional oc- 

 currence in Mohave society and must be sharply differentiated 

 from mere resentment over being abused or nagged in a 

 manner which does not involve actual isolation or total 

 rejection. 



(c) Not even one of the 14 clustered suicides, as against 2 of the 6 

 unclustered ones, was caught in a culturally wholly anoma- 

 lous position. Tama:rahue was the only shaman known to 

 have been wrongly accused of witchcraft (Case 106), which 

 may explain why he was the only accused witcli who, instead 

 of causing himself to be killed, or facing his killers with equa- 

 nimity, took matters in his own hand and killed himself. 

 Likewise, the situation of Nyortc (Case 123), whom her son 

 refused to support and to cherish in her old age, was also alto- 

 gether anomalous in Mohave society. It is true, of course, 

 that Tanu :'s behavior toward her nephew (Case 114) and her 

 niece (Case 115) was also atypical. However, in this instance 



