Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 481 



Hispan TSruu:ly, but was neglected by her unfllial son Nyail Kwaki :yo (Case 

 123). In fact, the ability to accept friends as adequate substitutes for kins- 

 folk may be a trait occurring only in advanced societies and correlated with the 

 breakdown of the truly functional aspects of kinship ties (Devereux, 1942 d). 

 It should also be specified that the pains of cancer are, in themselves, capable 

 of motivating suicidal acts. It is, nonetheless, significant that Kwali : killed 

 himself at a time when his friendly hosts had to be absent, so that he must 

 have felt more than usually lonely and depressed, and also sorry to be a burden 

 to these friends, who had to go out even in the evening to earn a living. 



SUBGROUP II 



CASE 125 (Informants: Hivsu: Tupo:ma and Hama: Utce:) (1932) : 



Name: Wilymawilyma. Gens: Tcatc. Race: Three-quarters Mohave, one- 

 quarter (father's mother) Cocopa. Sex: Male. Age at death: 29. Marital 

 status: Remarried. Children: None. Parents: Father living. Education: 

 Sherman Institute. Occupation: Sante Fe Railroad shops. Date of death: 

 1929 (?). Cause of death: Suicide. He shot himself in the chin with a shot- 

 gun. Motive : Deserted by his wife. 



Name of wife: Kat. Gens: Kat. Race: Fullblood Mohave. Sex: Female. 

 Age : 23. Marital status : Married. Children : None. 



Kat was promiscuous and had an adulterous affair with Tcematcem(a) 

 (Gens: 0:otc. Race: Fullblood Mohave. Sex: Male. Age: 17-19), who was 

 not related to either of them. (See also Case 104.) Wilymawilyma was ap- 

 parently aware of this situation, though at first he does not seem to have in- 

 terfered with the lovers. However, 3 days after his wife left him and married 

 (went to live with) her lover, between 8:00-9:00 a.m., Wilymawilyma retired 

 to his house in Needles, took a 12-gage shotgun, and, working its trigger with 

 his foot, shot himself in the chin. He did not die at once and was rushed to the 

 Santa Fe Railroad hospital in San Bernardino, where he died of his wounds. 

 The Mohave put up enough money to have his corpse returned to Needles for 

 cremation. 



This suicide disgusted Hama : Utce : a great deal : "We despise people who 

 commit suicide. They show their emotions. They are weak. In olden times 

 people did not commit suicide (for such reasons?)." 



Comment 



This case was first recorded in 1932, in connection with an inquiry into Mohave 

 divorce. It was cited as an example of the decreased self-control of the younger 

 Mohave, who throw away their lives even over so "trifling" a matter as a broken 

 marriage. Actually, it is quite probable that this native interpretation is valid, 

 the real cause of this new attitude being presumably, the gradual disintegra- 

 tion of the functional kin group and the increasing need of the younger Mohave 

 to stabilize themselves emotionally by relying primarily upon the love and com- 

 pany of one spouse, instead of upon the collective affection and support of the 

 kin group (Devereux, 1942 d). This does not mean, of course, that, even in 

 aboriginal times, the Mohave did not experience distress when they were de- 

 serted by a desirable spouse, especially if that spouse could not be readily re- 

 placed with an equally desirable one (Devereux, 1942 d). When such a situ- 

 ation arose, it was common enough e.g., for, an old man deserted by a young wife 

 to develop the transitory hi :wa itck neurosis (pt. 3, pp. 91-106) . By contrast all 

 informants emphatically denied that, in aboriginal times, anyone was "crazy 

 enough" to kill himself just because his wife left him. It is also quite noteworthy 

 that, even during the period of gradual acculturation, only broken marriages led 



