Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 477 



a greater significance in the second suicide, where sexual and kinship types of 

 relations are fused into an incestuous and adulterous relationship, while in 

 the third case, the sexual element plays a decisive role. Since these three cases 

 are spread out over nearly three decades, in the course of which aboriginal 

 Mohave society and values became increasingly disorganized, it is possible that 

 the increasing importance of mere sexuality and of feminine looseness and the 

 decreasing role of family cohesion during that period is paralleled by a similar 

 shift in the motivation of these three successive suicides which appear to form 

 a cluster. 



Clusteb F: 



SUPPLEMENTARY CASE B (for a ful account, see Case 111). 



The motivating power of nagging by a close relative, such as a father, is also 

 shown by the fact that Tunayva Kor killed himself because his father Anya- 

 nyema :m nagged him for having raced his father's horse without first obtaining 

 his permission. The griefstricken and remorseful father thereupon tried to 

 commit funeral suicide by throwing himself on his son's funeral pyre. 



SUBGROUP in 



Clusteb G: 



Case 121 (Informant: Hitcu :y Kutask(w)elva, in a letter dated April 27, 1944) : 

 "I received a letter from mother ( Hama : Utce : ) today and they seem to be 

 having a little trouble back home. (Kamey He:ya = camel's mouth, of the Kat 

 gens) a man about the age of 27 was staying with his relations and he got into 

 trouble with this girl (0:otc), so he decided the only thing he could do was 

 kill himself. He shot himself through the right side of his chest but he missed 

 his heart and they have him in the hospital. The sheriff found a note by his 

 body telling why he shot himself." 



Comment 



This case is atypical — or, perhaps, more properly, "modern" — in two respects. 



(1) The suicide was caused by some apparently minor trouble with a girl. 

 (Had the trouble been a major one, Hitcu :y Kutask(w)elva, who was an ex- 

 pert informant, as is shown by his having specified the age and residence of 

 the man, would have provided relevant details.) 



(2) The suicide left a note. 



The nontraditional motivation may explain why the suicidal attempt was 

 not successful. 



CASE 122 (Informant : Hitcu :y Kutask(w)elva, in a letter dated April 27, 1944) : 

 "And the Sheriff (Ind.[ian]) (Atci:Ahwat, fish red, no gens) shot himself 

 on account of his wife (Nyoltc) about a month ago to[o] but he is well and on 

 the job, again. He shot himself twice through the chest and he almost died. 

 They operated on him about a month ago and he is doing well. Mother (Hama: 

 Utce:) stayed up day and night with him for four days and nights in the 

 Ind[ian] Hospital in Phoenix." 



Comment 



Atci : Ahwat's suicidal attempt may — as the informant seems to have un- 

 consciously sensed, since he started this paragraph with "and" * — have been 

 stimulated or triggered by his investigation of Kamey He:ya's suicide (Case 

 121), which suggests that, here too, we are dealing with a "cluster," which is 

 determined partly by an administrative nexus between the two cases, and 

 partly by proximity in time. Indeed, it would be highly unusual in terms of 



* A careful examination of all of this man's letters yielded no other example of 

 a paragraph starting -with "And." 



