508 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 175 



The integration of alcohol with the Mohave way of life will be dis- 

 cussed in terms of three frames of references : I, The Sociocultural ; 

 II, the Subjective- Psychological ; and III, The Unconscious Factors. 



I. THE SOCIOCULTURAL ROLE OF ALCOHOL 



1. ETHICS 



The Mohave drinking pattern is closely integrated with the pattern 

 of compulsory generosity (Devereux, 1939 b), which is one of the car- 

 dinal virtues of the Mohave system of ethics. No Mohave would 

 think of taking a drink in public without offering the bottle to his 

 friends. Nevertheless, the excessive drinking of a certain individual 

 (Case 138) caused his friends so much concern, that they more or less 

 systematically attempted to prevent him from drinking and almost 

 never produced a bottle in his presence. On the other hand, they 

 pitied rather than condemned him for being so compulsive a drinker as 

 to enter the houses of his friends in their absence and help himself 

 to whatever drinks he could find. 



While the Mohave expect their friends to share their drinks, habitual 

 "drink-cadgers" are practically unknown. The Mohave pattern of 

 generosity with drinks closely parallels their behavior with regard to 

 cigarettes (Devereux, 1948 a) . 



2. SOCIAL DRINKING 



Mohave drinking is mostly of the "social" type and does not usually 

 culminate either in severe intoxication or in antisocial or objectionable 

 behavior. According to the late M. A. I. Nettle, M.D,, and several 

 native informants, this is due in part to the Mohave tendency to "pass 

 out" * very rapidly, and in part to the fact that there is seldom enough 

 alcohol to intoxicate an appreciable number of persons. The Mohave 

 usually manage to obtain liquor before they go to a gathering or dance. 

 They drink a certain amount during the evening and then either go 

 home quietly or else pass out and sleep it off. Mildly intoxicated per- 

 sons behave, as a rule, in a fairly reasonable way and are easily man- 

 aged. Hence, ordinary, more or less public, parties almost never end 

 in fights, or in scandals. The average Mohave dance or gathering is, 

 thus, a fairly orderly and quiet affair; those who wish to engage in 

 sexual irregularities will generally withdraw from the party and per- 

 form the sex act either in private, or in small groups. 



» The term "pass out" usually suggests a state of severe Intoxication. In the case of 

 the Mohave, however. It merely describes the behavior of falling asleep. The ease with 

 which Mohave drinkers "pass out" after drinking relatively small amounts of liquor 

 suggests a strong tendency to respond to alcohol intake with this behavior. This topic 

 Is discussed In detail below (see pp. 524-525). 



