Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 543 



some wags decided to set fire to the pubic hair of these women. Even 

 though Hivsu : Tupo : ma's pleas and moderate show of force did not deter the 

 group from perpetrating this practical joke, it caused them at least to protect 

 the girls from burns, by rubbing wet sand into their pubic hair,* After their 

 return to Needles, the girls found an opportunity to avenge this outrage, when 

 they discovered two of the culprits in a state of intoxication. They bared 

 and painted the glans of their penes red, and the shaft yellow and black, and 

 left them exposed in this humiliating condition. A detailed account of this 

 incident was published elsewhere (Devereux, 1950 a). 



(h) In the 1920's, Hivsu : Tupo : ma was the policeman and ditchrider of 

 the Colorado River Indian Agency. Although he knew that Kohovan Ktirau 

 coveted his job, he became intoxicated one day and fell asleep in a ditch. 

 Kohovan Kurau, who happened (?) to discover him in this condition, took 

 Hivsu : Tupo : ma's gun to the Agency and managed to have himself apix)inted 

 reservation policeman. This incident was reported in detail elsewhere 

 (Devereux, 1948 d). 



(c) In 1933 a white friend, who stopped to talk to me while I was working 

 with Hivsu : Tupo : ma, offered him a drink from a pint bottle containing ethyl 

 alcohol sweetened with apricot-flavored syrup. Hivsu : Tupo : ma drank about 

 2 fluid ounces, returned the bottle to our mutual friend, and thanked him. 

 Although the latter did not depart immediately, Hivsu : Tupo : ma did not ask 

 for a second drink. 



(d) In 1936 Hivsu: Tupo : ma asked me to get him some liquor, but did 

 not resent my refusal to comply with his request. 



(e) On Thanksgiving Eve, 1936, Hivsu : Tupo : ma told me that he would not 

 be able to work with me the following afternoon. I was therefore in my 

 hotel room when, toward the middle of the afternoon, Hivsu : Tupo : ma un- 

 expectedly visited me. He was in an advanced state of intoxication, and spon- 

 taneously admitted having bewitched two persons : his older uterine half brother 

 Hamuly Huk'ye:ra(=ashes makes-a-line, reputed, to have been a witch) who 

 had been his mother's favorite, and Hamuly Huk'y6:ra's daughter, with 

 whom he had had an affair which, by Mohave standards, was an incestuous 

 one, adding that he continued to have dream intercourse with the ghost of 

 his bewitched half niece. He denied, however, having been responsible 

 for the death of Sudhu : ra, who was the only person ever to accuse him of 

 witchcraft (Case 44). This confession came as a great surprise to me, since 

 Hivsu : Tupo : ma was believed to be the prototype of the benevolent shaman. 

 Throughout the interview Hivsu : Tupo : ma's manner toward me was a friendly 

 one, despite the facts that his usually smiling face was distorted into a fierce 

 scowl and that he seemed to be somewhat confused and uncertain in his move- 

 ments. It is also noteworthy that, even though he usually insisted on the pres- 

 ence of an interpreter, he revealed on this occasion that he spoke fair English. 

 At the end of the interview he asked for his pay and departed. In order to 

 understand the timing of this confession, it should be added that we were 

 working at that time on the problem of witchcraft and of the vicarious suicide 

 of witches (Devereux, 1937 c),; The next day he confirmed his confession in 

 every detail and readily provided data concerning the age and gentile afl31iation 

 of each person mentioned in his story, but asked me not to repeat his confession 

 to anyone, lest he should be killed for practicing witchcraft. 



* La Barre (19.39) cites a limerick about a young man from St. Jamea, who set fire to 

 his Bweetbeart'3 pubic balr. 



