with his wives, in order to meet his mother, a half-brother
unmentioned before, and finally his dead father's shadow. Kinship
relations are thus in the forefront, and most of the topography is
still indefinite. The return, as so often in Mohave story, presages
war. The hero's successive reunions, culminating in the unique
interview with his father's spirit, build up affect toward a climax
which can end only in a contest with his hereditary foes.
This contest constitutes part J, and is characteristically brief: the
Mohave seem not to know how to dilate on a fight, even one conducted
by magic. The hero first beats his enemies in competitions, then
destroys them with lightning from his magic cane. The narrator's
knitting together of items, and suspending them over intervals, is
evidenced by the lightning cane, which has been acquired in paragraph
90, but is used only in 102.
Section K, the final transformation of the hero and his folk into
stars, birds, and rocks, is of course a conventional coda--somewhat
like the particle used in some languages, or the tone-glide in others,
to indicate end of sentence. It means nothing specific in relation to
the particular events preceding, but without it the tale would not be
felt as having been brought to an end.
This analysis perhaps helps to establish the genuine skill of the
narrator in joining, developing, and sustaining a plot which has
something of epic quality and which in a less simple culture, with a
more specific medium than natural prose available, might have had epic
potentialities.
SUPPLEMENTARY
_References to Cane, Ahta (by paragraphs)_
2. Names of the brothers refer to cane (fn. 4).
18a. Uncle sends them for cane.
18b. On the journey lightning and thunder, omen of death.
19-23. Cane described, argument about division, knife made, cane
cut, quarrel over it, return.
24. Not to eat salt while unwashed--indicates power in cane.
24. Older brother paints his cane; younger, bewitched, sees his
unpainted.
62. Cane seen on journey, near Yuma.
70. Turns into cane sliver to hide from four women.
71. Oldest woman thinks he may be cane.
74. Hero smokes caneful of tobacco, chews up the cane.
76. Told that the Mohave do not smoke in cane, he says he is
Cane.
77. Smokes two filled canes.
88. His name, Ahta-hane, first mentioned (fn. 87).
90. Told by mother's father of lightning and thunder.
91. Takes cane from hole made by lightning bolt, splits into
four.
92. Refuses to show it to his wife: it would kill.
93. Half-brother called Ahta-kwasume; wears cane that rattles.
95. The two brothers mourn their father and burn all their
belongings except the lightning cane.
102. Contest with canes that flash lightning: hero's is
stronger.
103. Shows them his canes and makes it thunder.
_References to Meteor, Kwayū_
37. Hero knocks father's kneecap shinny ball west as meteor to
explode in mountains.
75-77. Meteor, husband of four women, tries to kill hero, gives
him tobacco.
82b. Meteor referred to again as cannibal.
104. Hero flies as meteor past rock "Meteor's father's mother"
to turn into rock Mekoaṭa.
_References to Sun, Anya_
7b-10. Hero's father's first wife is Tšese'ilye (fn. 78),
daughter of Sun in west.
11a-14. Hero's father's second wife is Kuvahā, daughter of Sun
in east by different mother.
29-31. One wife returns, other gives birth to hero.
35. He sends his mother away.
77-78. Sun, father (or husband? see fn. 58) of four women,
gambles with hero, loses body, escapes, is turned into double
(sun dog).
87-99. Hero returns to mother.
90. Hero learns from mother's father's son about deadly
lightning.
_References to Blue-tailed Lizard, Halye'anekitše_
36. Hero turns into halye'anekitše lizard to steal father's
kneecap shinny ball (fn. 40).
99-101. Halye'anekitše wins contest for hero by taking father's
scalp from pole.
II. VINIMULYE-PATŠE
Vinimūlye-pātše, more fully "Vinimūlya-hapātša," is a song series
prominent in Mohave consciousness, perhaps because it deals with war.
I have never secured an etymology for the name. The present version
was narrated April 23, 1904, upstream from Fort Mohave, by an old man
called Hiweik-kwini'īlye, "her anus is black." He told his tale with
unusual compactness: part of a day sufficed for his outline and the
Englishing. He mentioned the place in the story of 196 songs; besides
an indefinite group near the beginning: "4, 5, 6, 10, 12 while they
are on the way," or "a night long, 50 songs." The whole cycle, when
sung complete in sequence as tšupilyk, a "gift" to a dying relative,
takes two nights to sing, he said. Jack Jones, was, as usual, my
guide, sponsor, and interpreter.
The tale is simple. The Mohave hero, Umas-kwitšit-patše, with his
people, leaves his home in the northern part of Mohave valley, for the
Providence mountains, off to the northwest in Chemehuevi territory,
and lives there a year. There is no farming possible in this desert
range, but the story is silent on subsistence. The chief wants to
return to make war, and, after a brief visit home, leads his people to
the river at the south end of Mohave valley, and then makes a long
detour downstream to below Ehrenberg, in Halchidhoma land; from there
they turn back until they once more reach the foot of Mohave valley.
Nothing happens on this excursion; it is perhaps introduced from sheer
love of mental travel, or to suggest the progress of a war party. The
Mohave in the southern half of the valley flee before the invaders,
who appropriate a set of houses near where they had lived originally.
Here they stay a year, as is shown by his daughter, when her feelings
of modesty are hurt, running away to the Walapai for that period. Then
they suddenly resume the march northward for a few miles, and finally
join battle with Savilyuyave, Umas-kwitšit-patše's own younger brother
and leader of the refugees, at "Hawk-nose" near Fort Mohave. The
account of this climax is quite meager. The residents run away across
the river. Savilyuyave is killed and scalped, his daughter is made a
"slave." After the despoiling of another group, the "Quail people,"
and some calling of names across the stream, the hero and his band
return to the Providence mountains, where one of them dies of a wound
received in the battle. Why the two halves of the Owitš clan should
peacefully separate under the leadership of two brothers, and then the
returning one insist on war to a finish, but abandon the conquered
territory, is wholly unaccounted for. Either there is motivation which
the narrator knows but considers it unnecessary to discuss; or the
motivation is as lacking as in a dream. After all, these tales are all
dreams, the Mohave insist. And while it is clear that they do not
ordinarily invent new plots in their dreams, they do quite probably
dream over or brood about or perhaps actually redream, each man, the
plot or plots which he calls his. The one theme which runs through
this tale as a unifying thread is the doom of war.
THE TALE
1. Umas-kwitšit-patše lived at Aha-kwa'i[1] with his people. At that
time the river was near that place. He was the only one of them to
talk to the rest. Then he and his people crossed the river to the
western side to Amaṭ-kusayi.[2] (4 songs.)[3]
[1] Aha-kwa'i is at the "Old Gus" ranch, below Milltown, on an
overflow pond or slough (an old river arm), at the foot of the
mesa on the east edge of Mohave valley, upstream from Needles
and downstream from Fort Mohave. At the time of the story, the
river lay close to Aha-kwa'i.
[2] Downstream from Hatšioq-vaṭveve.
[3], [3a] The narrator stated that he usually omitted the songs
credited to pars. 1 and 2 and began with those referring to the
Providence mountains. Iθava is arrowweed.
2. Then they went up on the mesa, and from there into the mountains at
Iθave-kukyave. (2 songs.)[3a]
3. Then they went on to the large mountains, Avi-kwe-havasu,[4] the
Providence mountains. (2 songs.)
[4] "Blue mountains," as they appear from the Mohave country.
4. They had found that land and kept it for their own. They lived
there a year. Now Umas-kwitšit-patše was a Mohave, and his relatives
were Mohave in this country. He said: "I want to go back to my
relatives." Then he returned by the way he had come, going back to
Aha-kwa'i with his people. When he had returned, all the Mohave said:
"I think he has come to make war." They talked of war. They were
afraid of him, for he was very large. Then he went back to the
Providence mountains with his people. Now he was a man who dreamed
well.[5] He knew what the people were saying about him: he dreamed it.
They were saying: "I wish Umas-kwitšit-patše would come again. We
would cook wheat[6] for him, and put meat into it, and make good food
for him." No one sent for him to come but he knew what they wished.
Then he was ready to come to make war. So he started with his people,
but he did not go straight. He went past Hatalompe[7] far down to
Aha-kwatpave.[8] (An indefinite number of songs.)[9]
[5] Sumatš-ahotk.
[6] Frequently considered native by the Mohave.
[7] Six miles south of Beal, the point at which the Santa Fe
railroad leaves California on its way east.
[8] On the Colorado on the east side, below Ehrenberg. He had to
cross the river to reach it, of course.
[9] The narrator first said he sang "4, 5, 6, 10, or 12 songs"
about the journey to Aha-kwatpave Later he stated that he sang
of this portion of the story "a whole night, 50 songs." The last
place mentioned by name on the way south, however, is Hatalomve
or Hatalompe.
5. From there he turned back and started north up the river. (10
songs.)
He came to Hôore.[10] (1 song.)
[10] Ehrenberg. The route now is back northward up the east bank
of the river.
6. From there he started again with his people and went upstream to
Kapotake-hiv'auve.[11] They slept there and went on up the river to
Amaṭ-koahoatše. (2 songs.)
[11] No songs were mentioned for this place, perhaps by
oversight.
7. Having slept there, they went on to Avi-helye'a. (1 song.)
8. The next day they came to Avi-kwa-hapama, (1 song.)
9. From there they went on, the next morning, until they reached
Aqwaqa-have.[12] There they slept again. (5 songs.)
[12] Aqwaqa means deer.
10. Starting in the morning, they went on up to Tatasky-anve. They did
not sleep there.[13] But Umas-kwitšit-patše talked of war. He said:
"When there is war, people are beaten and run away. Women are captured
as slaves and pushed into the river." So they talked of what they
would do. (2 songs.)
[13] Possibly meaning that they went past the place without
stopping, but more probably that they made camp and spent the
night there, and that Umas-kwitšit-patše talked to his people
instead of letting them sleep.
11. Then they came to Hakutšyepe.[14] There they made camp. Then they
saw a beaver's track, like a little boy's foot. They had never seen it
before and thought it was a little boy. Umas-kwitšit-patše showed it
to his people and they were afraid. In the morning they started. (10
songs.)[15]
[14] The mouth of Bill Williams Fork of the Colorado, the place
being known as Aubrey.
[15] Thus the narrative. In subsequently indicating the number
of songs relating to each part of the story, the narrator made
no mention of Hakutšyepe and the incident there, but proceeded
as follows: "On the way north, 4 songs. At Selye'aye-kwame, 4
songs. At Chemehuevi valley, 2 songs." There is no discrepancy,
but different events and stages of the same part of the journey
are specified in the two accounts. It must be remembered that
the narrative is unusually condensed.
11a. They came to Selye'aya-ita, where they slept. Umas-kwitšit-patše
told his people how brave he was, and how good his luck was, and what
he had dreamed. (4 songs.)
12. They started up the river next day, came to Hatuṭve and slept
there. (4 songs.)
13. They went on up again. (3 songs.)
14. That night they slept at Amaṭ-kyerekyere-kwitni.[16] (4 songs.)
[16] South of Mellen on the railroad. They are now at the foot
of Mohave valley.
15. In the morning they came to Kwaparvete[17] and stood there. The
people on the west side of the river, saw them and were afraid and ran
off. (10 songs.)
[17] Kwaparvete is the name of a little mesa which the railroad
ascends and traverses after it crosses the river and before it
enters the mouth of the Sacramento wash, by which it climbs to
the Arizona plateau.
16. Umas-kwitšit-patše and his people saw them going. He said: "Let
us pursue but not kill them." Then they followed them.[18] Now
women shout in war. But this time the women said: "We will not
shout. You say you will not kill them, but only chase them;
therefore there is no need for us to shout. When you are ready to
kill, we will shout." Umas-kwitšit-patše said: "We shall have war.
We are not killing these people. We do not even wish to attack
them. But there will be war." Those who fled came to above where
Needles now is. Umas-kwitšit-patše and his people followed their
dust until they came to Avi-hilykwampe.[19] There the pursued
crossed the river, and Umas-kwitšit-patše crossed after them. (20
songs.)
[18] Crossing the river to the west bank, as the context shows.
[19] About five miles north of Needles, where the mesa from the
west runs down to the river.
17. The fleeing people came to Amaṭ-tasilyke and to Aθ'i-kupome. But
Umas-kwitšit-patše and his people went another way, eastward to
Aha-kukwinve.[20] Now they were nearly at the place where they had
formerly lived.[21] All the people in the vicinity were afraid and ran
northward, upriver, abandoning their food and dishes and property.
Umas-kwitšit-patše's people gathered up these effects, ate the food,
and lived there.
[20] At the foot of the mesa. Both parties are now east of the
river.
[21] Namely, Aha-kwa'i, where the story starts.
18. Umas-kwitšit-patše had a daughter, Ilya-owitš-maikohwere. He said:
"Now that you are big enough, do not sleep near me. Sleep at a
distance. Sleep in the corner of the house."[22] Then the girl was
angry at his saying that and ran off. (4 songs.)
[22] He wanted her to have a lover and marry, and feared that no
man would steal to her while she lay close to her parents. There
is nothing disgraceful in this suggestion, to the Mohave, who
scarcely make a distinction between lover and husband. The old
people frequently exhort the young to enjoy themselves while
they can.
19. She went east until she came to Hawi, where she slept. Then she
went on to Avi-hoalye, the Walapai mountains.[23] There were many
girls among the (Walapai) people living there, and she played with
them and stayed with them a year. She liked it there. (30 songs.)
[23] Hoalye means yellow pine. The name Walapai, hawaly-ipai in
Mohave, seems to be derived from this word.
20. After a year she went back. When she returned, she was ashamed and
sat outside the house. She did not go indoors to her parents. She was
painted red. The people she had been with, the Walapai, had given her
the paint. The Mohave do not paint like that. So they did not know who
she was. She sat with her head bowed. Then Umas-kwitšit-patše came
out. "That is my daughter," he said. (10 songs.)
21. He said to her: "I thought you had died. When a woman visits her
friends among another tribe, she stays two months or three months. You
stayed a year and I thought you were dead." Then, after four days,
Umas-kwitšit-patše said: "Now it is four days. I am ready to fight. The
people I am going to attack do not live very far away. But I think my
daughter is tired. Have you become tired?" But Ilya-owitš-maikohwere
said: "No, I am not tired. I will go with you." When they came to
Amaṭ-tasilyke and Aθ'i-kupome, the people whom they had pursued before
and who had fled there and were still living there, saw them, and took
their property and fled north once more. They ran to Sokwilye-ihu.[24]
There they lay down for the night. Umas-kwitšit-patše and his people
slept at Selye'aye-'itš-patše,[25] downriver from them. Then
Umas-kwitšit-patše named a mesa near by: Havateitše-'isnave. (40 songs.)
[24] "Hawk-nose." Not far from Fort Mohave.
[25] Near the river, on the irrigation canal in use at Fort
Mohave in 1904. Selye'aye is sand.
22. Then he started again. Now he wanted to kill the people at
Sokwilye-'ihu. Savilyuyave,[26] his younger brother, was the head man
among those who had fled. When Umas-kwitšit-patše and his people came to
Sokwilye-'ihu, they fought. Soon Savilyuyave's people ran away and
jumped into the river. Savilyuyave himself was killed in the river. He
sank to the bottom and they seized him, dragged him on the bank, and
scalped him. His daughter[27] they took as a slave. Umas-kwitšit-patše's
people went back downriver to Selye'aye'-kumitše.[28] (5 songs.)
[26] Also the name of a Mohave who died not many years before
1903.
[27] Her name was said also to be Ilya-owitš-maikohwere. Owitš
is one of the women's clan-names. As Umas-kwitšit-patše and
Savilyuyave were brothers, and of the Owitš group, their
daughters would both be named Owitš. In reply to a question, the
informant stated decisively that all the people accompanying
Umas-kwitšit-patše called their daughters Owitš, showing that he
regarded them as a clan. The totemic reference of the clan is to
clouds.
[28] A mesa approaching the river about two miles south of Fort
Mohave.
23. There they stayed and rested.[29] Umas-kwitšit-patše stood up and
named all the places along the river, up to the source. (5 songs.)
[29] Probably for the night, while their leader addressed them.
24. Then they started again and went north to
Amaṭ-nyamasave-kwohave.[30] Those who lived there were called the
Quail-people, Ipa-'ahma.[31] They saw Umas-kwitšit-patše coming and
fled across to the west bank of the river. He took their land and all
their food. Now Savilyuyave's people were at Avi-kutaparve.[32] The
Quail-people, being afraid, wanted to join Savilyuyave's people, and
went to Avi-kutaparve. (3 songs.)
[30] Two or three miles north of Fort Mohave: "earth-white-kwohave."
[31] "When these people were killed, they became quail."
[32] Three or four miles north of Fort Mohave, on the west bank
of the river, where the mesa or cliff is whitish.
25. Umas-kwitšit-patše went up the east side of the river. He saw (his
brother's and the Quail) people on the other side and stood and talked
across the river to them.[33] He said: "I have fought you. Now I will
spare you. You did not stand up against me: I will let you go." Then
they talked badly[34] to each other, telling of each other's dead
parents and ancestors. (4 songs.)
[33] Literally, "talking" is hardly possible. The Colorado is so
wide that a conversation cannot be carried on across it except
by shouting.
[34] Amatyesumak, "cursed."
26. Soon Umas-kwitšit-patše crossed the river, not at Avi-kwutapārva,
but below. "When a man is fighting, he does not stay in one place, he
travels," he said. He wanted to go back to the Providence mountains.
Then they came to Aha-kuhulyu'i.[35] But they found the spring full of
vermin[36] and went on without drinking. One of them, Umas-elyiθe, who
had been shot in the thigh, was in great pain as they traveled through
the desert here. (1 song.)
[35] "Stinking-water," a spring on a slope, five miles or more
from the river.
[36] Humkuyove.
27. They came to Avi-'itšierqe[37] and stood there and saw their
mountains, their own place, the Providence mountains. (1 song.)
[37] "Excrement-rocks" or "mountain."
28. From there it did not take them long to reach their home. (2
songs.)
29. When they arrived, Umas-elyiθe died. (10 songs.)[38]
[38] These ten songs mention the roof, posts, and other parts of
their houses--a favorite subject.
III. NYOHAIVA
CIRCUMSTANCES AND NATURE OF THE STORY
In November, 1905, my friend and interpreter Jack Jones came to San
Francisco and the University, bringing with him an informant called
Aspa-sakam, which means Eagle-sell. Aspa-sakam was a youngish
middle-aged man, heavy-set and inclined to be fat, who worked pretty
steadily for the Santa Fe railroad at Needles. He was, however, a good
Mohave inwardly, and had dreamt and could sing two cycles, Yellaka or
Goose, and Nyohaiva (Nyô'haiva), which is a story of war but named
after an insect. He narrated both of these, proving himself an
excellent informant as regards precision, orderliness of mind, and
willingness to explain. His Goose story has been outlined on pages
766-768 of the Handbook of California Indians. It is a very long tale
with a minimum of action. The Nyohaiva story, which follows here, is
much shorter. The songs, as their scheme was outlined and as they were
recorded on the phonograph in part, aggregate only about a hundred, as
against four hundred or more in the Goose series. Aspa-sakam said that
it took only one night to sing the Nyohaiva series through.
Nyohaiva, the narrator said, was known also to an old man called
Mehulye, who was his mother's brother and who now lived with him. This
was a paralyzed man who knew the Great Tale, the story of migrations
and battles of Mohave clan groups.
As regards Goose, Aspa-sakam said that this was known also to his
brother and to an old man, Hakwe, who was his father-in-law and
therefore not a blood relation. The narrator added that perhaps
sometime he would teach the singing to his son. The old man, Hakwe,
was subsequently interviewed at Needles. I shrank from obtaining from
him the whole of the story, having already gone through the ordeal of
securing it from Aspa-sakam, but did record some of the songs and a
place-name synopsis of the story, which is given on pages 768-769 of
the Handbook. This outline shows Hakwe's version of Goose to be quite
different in detail from Aspa-sakam's. The songs also have a different
melodic theme. It does not seem, therefore, that either of these two
informants, son-in-law and father-in-law, could have learned from, or
been very much influenced by, the other.
As for Nyohaiva, Aspa-sakam subsequently said that his kin on the
father's side knew Nyohaiva. As a boy he heard them sing it and
learned it. "They did not teach me, for such things cannot be taught.
They can only be dreamed. But my relatives knew Nyohaiva, and I
dreamed it." These are his own words, and, semi-contradictory as they
may seem to us, they perhaps come as close as is possible to
expressing a characteristic Mohave nondifferentiation of spontaneous
development from within and acquisition from without. Aspa-sakam added
that the way he came to know Goose was different: none of his kinsfolk
knew this. In our words, he really dreamed this; Nyohaiva he both
learned and dreamed. When he was a boy, sometimes he would sing parts
of Goose. An old man, hearing him sing, would say: "Yes, that is
right. Yes, that is Goose." So he acquired more of it, dreaming it,
and came to sing more and more of it.
It is doubtful whether he had ever sung either Goose or Nyohaiva
through consecutively at any one time or occasion. I had seen him
about two years earlier at a death and cremation, where he was
singing, probably Nyohaiva. He had sung Goose for amusement at night
at his home, he said. Neither he nor the interpreter seemingly could
be made to understand clearly my questions whether he had ever sung
Goose a whole night through, or whether he had ever sung it or
Nyohaiva continuously from beginning to end. Such a statement of
factual events seems to have little meaning to the Mohave.
Nyohaiva is sung standing, at any rate when women dance in a ring
around the singer. He leans on a stick, which he sometimes thrusts
forward and waves to the rhythm of his song, sometimes drops through
his hand to strike the ground. There is no rattle or musical
instrument.
Nyohaiva is classed by the Mohave as one of their song-myths dealing
with war, and its plot is simple. Nyohaiva is an insect. She comes into
existence as a woman in the north end of Mohave valley, at Miakwa'orve,
above Fort Mohave, at the time of the beginnings: "The world was still
wet." There is however no reference in the tale to Matavilya's death,
Ha'avulypo, Avikwame, or the actually originating events. Nyohaiva
travels south along the river, naming places and encountering named
personages, but without notable happenings, as far as Aqwāqa-have, in
Halchidhoma territory, below Parker. Here four brothers, including
Otšôuta, believe that she comes for war and plan to kill her first. She
on her part finds bones which she recognizes as her relatives'--a
characteristic Mohave motivation and inconsistency--and bets her body
against her freedom in a game to be played with one of the same bones.
She wins, threatens them with war, and runs off southward, announcing
impending war to those whom she meets, as far as Ava-tšohai, somewhere
between Parker and Yuma. There she incites the people, under the
leadership of men whose names denote blackbirds, to join her in
returning and attacking Otšôuta's people. There is no reason given, why
they should do so; rather, war is treated as something which, now given
its roots, grows and will be--a sort of gathering fate, though a
stirring and pleasurable one. The prolix Mohave narrative manner of
adding incident to incident makes for an effect of slow accumulation of
feeling on this theme. However, the war itself resolves into the killing
by magic of a single leader: Homeric battles are not a usual part of the
story pattern of the Mohave, in spite of their preoccupation with war.
With a magic ball Nyohaiva puts the enemy settlement to sleep, enters
Otšôuta's house, cuts off his head. This she carries upriver to
Samo'okusa or Amaṭ-ya'ama near Parker, where people are living under the
leadership of four transvestites! She institutes the scalp dance for
them; throws Otšôuta's skull far south to become a rock at Picacho in
Yuma land; then turns herself to stone as Hawk-rock, east of Parker.
The objective towards which the events of the tale trend seems to be
the institution of the victory scalp dance; at which, in actual Mohave
practice, Nyohaiva was one of several singings that were sung and
danced to. In this dance, too, transvestites--the word means coward as
well--participated along with women; and there was the expectable
heterosexual indulgence. Hence probably the astounding berdache chiefs
of the tale: they are imagined in order to provide the fitting dance
setting. The scalp celebration seems to have been the principal Mohave
occasion for dancing.
Nyohaiva, as a woman, herself reflects this peculiar relation between
women and war: her hair, her skirt, her bashfulness are specified. But
there is also the opposite attitude: she incites, she wants revenge,
she kills. Here she is almost the embodiment of the hwami, the
occasional female active homosexual whom the Yuman river tribes
recognize as the counterpart of the more frequent male passive invert
or alyha. But she is never explicitly designated as a hwami, nor does
the tale itself allow us to interpret her as having had defined hwami
status in the Mohave mind. Normal sex impulse or relation, what we
should call love interest, does not enter into this story at all. It
is normally treated meagerly in Mohave mythology, in spite of the
endless sex talk and obscene humor of Mohave daily life. When it does
appear in narrative, it is episodically. The plots as a whole show the
love incidents to be subsidiary. Thus the Cane hero wishes a storm to
rid himself of his wives, who are delaying the revenge for which he is
traveling; and when his conscience makes him relent, it is because his
wish strikes him as inhumane and bad in general, not because of tender
sentiments toward the wives as love-objects. And there is rarely much
sex feeling, and never a touch of ribaldry. For instance, the Tumanpa
story is based on an incest motive, but the theme is treated with such
restraint as scarcely to obtrude beyond the skeleton of the plot, and
never with a trace of passion. The brother and sister are old people
at the beginning of the tale! The fact that such sex element as enters
into Nyohaiva is tinged with the quality of inversion, suggests a
definite functional relation between inversion and war in Mohave
culture. I say inversion because its sanctioned institutionalization
largely removes it from the realm of the perverse, at least socially
and in part psychologically.
Besides fighting and love-making, a third element active in Mohave
life is left out of Nyohaiva as out of certain other stories in Mohave
mythology. This is their tribal consciousness and keen ethnographic or
international interest. All the people encountered in the story are
treated as if they were Mohaves, or at least members of a still
undifferentiated human race leading a specifically Mohave-type life;
even though they dwell as far away as the Yuma habitat. (There is a
partial exception in the incident when Nyohaiva detours east into the
mountains, finds a man whose name refers to buckskin shirts, and gives
him hunting arrows to live by: thus she institutes the Walapai more
than she encounters them.) The attitude of clannish rather than of
tribal differentiation recurs in the unpublished "Great Tale" and, in
the present monograph, in Cane (I), and explicitly in Vinimūlye-pātše
(II), where the victorious attackers of the Mohave, coming from the
desert Providence mountains, are not the Chemehuevi who historically
inhabited this range, but a separatist band of Mohave who are
represented as having settled there, contrary to economic possibility
for a farming people.
Nevertheless, the Nyohaiva geography reflects historic international
relations. The district of the Mohave-like settlements which plot
against Nyohaiva and are vanquished by her are where the Halchidhoma
lived as recurrent objects of Mohave and Yuma attack. However, the war
party against them comes from the south, that is, from the Yuma
direction; and the victim's head is petrified in Yuma territory. It is
possible therefore that Nyohaiva is a variant derivative of the
Av'alyunu myth and singing which the Mohave recognize as the Yuma
equivalent of their Nyohaiva, as per the third paragraph of the tale.
That Nyohaiva herself is made to have her origin in northern Mohave
valley and turns to stone not far from the scene of her victory, means
less, because almost all stories move from north to south, through the
vicinity of Avikwame being the typical point of mythic departure with
the Mohave, and at times also in Yuma, Walapai, and even Diegueño
narratives.
THE NYOHAIVA TALE
1. Nyohaiva came to life at Miakwa'orve.[1] That place was the first
one to be dry. All about, the world was still wet. She thought: "I do
not know which is the best way to go. I wonder in what direction is
the best place for me, so that everyone will know me and I can tell
what I know. I have dreamed well. I wish to tell what I know so that
everyone will understand it." Now the day and the sun and everything
else already existed. Then she thought: "There is the sun. It is
already gone down as far as that."[2] (3 songs.)
[1] Opposite Fort Mohave and upstream from it; therefore in
Nevada.
[2] It was anya-tonya'im, afternoon.
2. Then she said: "Now I know what to do. I will not go elsewhere than
south. I will cross the river and go to Iδô-kuva'īre."[3] Then, when
she came to Iδô-kuva'īre, she thought: "I will tell about this place
and that I am here." (2 songs.)
[3] Iδô-kuva'īre is upstream from Fort Mohave and frequently
mentioned. Iδô is the black willow.
3. When she was about to start from there, she said: "I will tell
further what I know, so that everyone will learn what I say. Let
everyone listen to me and take my words." As she said this she took a
handful of sand. "I am a person who has dreamed well. When you Mohave
sing, you will sing Nyohaiva. There is another name for singing that,
Av'alyunu,[4] but it is the Yuma who will learn that. It will be the
same singing, but I give it another name." (1 song.)
[4] Ava-lye means in the house. Some Mohave sing Av'alyunu, but
as something learned from the Yuma.
4. She said: "Well, I have told everything here. I have finished. I will
go." Then she went to Ahtšyê-aksāmta.[5] When she had gone a little to
the south from there she saw a hill of sand, Selye'aya-kumītše.[6] Then
she said: "All will come to this place. They will come here to play and
sing and have a good time. That is how I want you to become married."[7]
All the people there looked at her, but did not know who she was. "I am
the person called Yanaθa-kwe-'ataye,"[8] she said; "Do you not know me?"
Then all said: "Yes, we know you. We have heard of that person. That is
one who sings and from whom we learn singing. Her name is Nyohaiva." Now
they all knew who she was. (4 songs.)
[5] Two to three miles from Fort Mohave, a little east of north.
Aksamta is one of the "wild" seeds planted by the Mohave; cf.
Mastamho, VII, 36-42, below.
[6] About a mile north of Fort Mohave; a sand hill.
[7] Merrymaking and dancing lead to courtship. Compare the
"Supplement" of the Mastamho myth.
[8] This insect, of which Nyohaiva is so to speak the
impersonation, is described as being red-spotted and as coming
out of the ground when this is dry. Hence no doubt the allusion
to Nyohaiva's place of birth being the first to become dry. The
Mohave call yanaθa-kwe-'atāye a "spider," but it spins no web.
The element -ataye means many, atai-k; yanaθa-, the narrator
suggested, was from δanuθa, tears, alluding to the spotted
appearance of the animal.
5. Nyohaiva said: "There are people living below. I must go down. I
want to talk to them and teach them to sing. I want to talk to others
as well as to you." Then she went. She came to Kamahnūlye.[9] When she
arrived there, she said: "I do not tell you anything else. I teach
you only singing. I do not tell you what you are to do, but only how
you are to sing." (4 songs.)
[9] Kamahnūlye is at the foot of the mesa (valley edge) in
Arizona, 4 miles south of Fort Mohave, near the Lamp ranch.
6. She said: "That is what I teach you. Listen to me." As yet she did
not teach other tribes. She taught only the Mohave. Then she went on
downward to Savêt-tôhe.[10] (3 songs.)
[10] Savêt-tôhe, a sandy place, is across the river from
Needles, due east, at the foot of the mesa. Another place of the
same name, but rocky, is said to occur farther down the river.
7. As she stood there she heard someone speaking or shouting in the
east. She thought: "I hear people to the east. I think I will go
there." Thus she said and went east. She went up over the mesa and far
up into the mountains A'ī-kumnau-tšumī. There there was a spring,
Aha-kuvilye.[11] Someone lived there. She said: "I know you. Your name
is Hamaθôle-viya.[12] Well, I will tell of your body. I will tell
about you." (4 songs.)
[11] "Stinking water." She is in Walapai land now.
[12] Hamaθôle is a Walapai buckskin shirt; viya, ham-vaya-k, to
turn, revolve. "All will see him as he stands in his shirt and
turns about to display it."
8. Then she was ready to return. "I am going back now," she said. She
got up. Then she said again: "You can live here by hunting, but you
cannot hunt without having the things with which to hunt." Then she
took[13] a bow and four arrows and threw them on the ground, and those
living there picked them up. "Now you are provided. You can hunt and
shoot," she said. She also took a stone knife with a wooden handle and
gave it to them, then she started to go back. (She did not sing about
what she did there. She only instructed those people, the Walapai.) As
she returned toward the river, everything had been made, both sky and
earth, and all was quiet and still. She thought of that as she came,
and sang about it. (4 songs.)[14]
[13] Produced magically, hiwaksoāmim.
[14] She evidently returned to Savêt-tôhe after her eastern
excursion, for the songs are credited to that place. Note that
the songs are about the completion and stillness of the world on
her main journey, not about the episodic side trip of
instituting Walapai customs.
9. Now she went downstream along the edge of the river. She said: "The
way that I have come will be a trail. I am making a trail for people.
When they want to go, they will travel by this." It was when she came
to Hotūrveve[15] that she said this. (1 song.)
[15] Unidentified.
10. She went on. Then she heard someone far downstream. She thought:
"I wonder whether I can jump four times and reach that place." Then
she tried to find how she could jump. She thought: "I think I am able
to jump. I am light now: I can jump far. Perhaps if I stand and turn
around four, five, six times I shall go far." She stood there
thinking, thus. Then she turned herself around four times. Then she
arrived far down below, at Iveθīkwe-'akyulye. Nyahunêm-kwayāve[16]
lived there. He said: "The person who has come is not like other
people. He combs and spreads his hair,[17] he does not roll it.[18]
What is the reason you do not roll your hair? Come among my people and
live here and I will give you a name." Nyohaiva said: "It is good.
Give me a name. I will join you." He told her: "Stand facing the
south." Then she faced the south. He sat behind her, looking at her
back. "I give you the name Aθ'inkumeδī," he said. When she received
that name, Nyohaiva said: "Now I have a new name. Everyone has heard
it. My name is Aθ'inkumeδī. I have learned something new." Then she
sang. (4 songs.)[19]
[16] Nyahunêm-kwayāve: hune is the Mohave name of a crook used
by the Yavapai for pulling fruit from the tall sahuaro or giant
cactus; it consists of a pole with a small stick tied at an
angle at the end. Kw-ayave, ayave-k, bent, crooked.
[17] Like a woman. There is of course no pronominal gender in
Mohave, so "his" is ambiguous.
[18] Into pencils or strands, like a man.
[19] It is characteristic that it was at this point in the story
that the interpreter first realized that Nyohaiva was a woman,
not a man.
11. From there she went on slowly. She came near
Amaṭ-ehê'-kwaδôske.[20] The man who lived there saw her coming: he was
called Hutšatš-mekulypuk.[21] He said: "I heard that it was so: I
think this is my sister. I think that I look like her." When she
arrived and stood before him, he said: "You are my sister."[22]
Nyohaiva said: "No, you are not my brother."[22a] "Yes, you are my
sister," he said. Then she told him: "Well, let us measure our feet.
See, your feet are different. Let me see your arms. Yours are
different from mine. Mine are short, yours are long. You are not my
brother." Still he insisted: "Yes, I am your brother." But she said:
"No, you are not like me. You are tall." Then she went away from that
place. (3 songs.)
[20] Amaṭ-ehê' is white earth paint.
[21] Evidently a myriapod or centipede. Described as a white
underground insect or worm, longer than a finger, with legs
along both sides of the body, and able to run fast. "Hutšatš,
white-haired; pukel-pukim, wriggle, travel like a snake."
[22], [22a] They use the term havīkwek, defined by the narrator
as a man or a woman's older or younger brother or sister, viz.,
any sibling. The word has not been secured as kinship term. It
is obviously from havīk, two; hence probably "one of a pair."
12. She went to Hô'aunye-vatše. Hutšatš-matillaye[23] lived there.
When she arrived, he also said to her: "You are my sister." She stood
opposite him, saying: "I do not think I am your sister." "Yes, you are
my sister," he said. Then she told him: "I have heard of you. You have
been away. No one knew it; no one saw you; but I heard it: I know you
have been away; I know you and what your name is. You are
Hutšatš-matillaye." (3 songs.)
[23] Apparently also an insect. It jumps awkwardly, sometimes
falling. For matillaye, compare ke-layi-m, fall.
13. So she went on. When she arrived at a place where there was no
one, she passed by. She reached Ahmo-kutšeθīlye.[24] There she stood
on a rock. Then she heard people singing at Amaṭa-kwitše. She thought:
"When I come to them they will not know me. I am afraid they will kill
me. How shall I go there? I do not know." (2 songs.)
[24] Ahmo' is a mortar.
14. She wanted to go to that place. She thought: "What shall I be? I
will become something." Then she walked, and jumped about. She put
three feathers on herself. Then she became an arrow. She jumped
up.[25] She arrived where she had heard the noise, at Amaṭa-kwitše,
and there she stuck in the ground. Little boys were playing about and
found the arrow. One of them said: "I have often been here but I have
never seen an arrow sticking in the ground." He did not take it, but
went back and told the old man who lived in that place. The old man's
name was Haltoṭ-amītš-kwisāma.[26] When the boy told him, this old man
said: "Be careful: that is no arrow. Perhaps it is a person who has
become an arrow." Nyohaiva heard that and thought: "I will change
back. I want to go to that old man's house." Then she turned human
again, and went to the house. The old man saw her coming and said:
"See, she is coming. I told you that it was no arrow. It is a person
who is coming." When she reached the house, the old man said: "Give
her to eat: give her pumpkins and corn." They had food ready and gave
it to her. But she did not know that it was food and would not eat it.
She had never eaten that kind before. They wanted her to eat and said:
"Why do you not eat?" But she said: "No, I do not want to." She was
afraid. She thought: "If I eat it, perhaps it will kill me."[27] She
wanted to go on and did not even sit down. She only squatted and sang.
(3 songs.)
[25] And flew.
[26] Haltoṭ, given as meaning himake, his back, more likely is
the word for spider; amitš, far; kw-isam, see.--This is also an
insect, a small rough bluish or gray beetle that feigns death
when handled.
[27] The Mohave are averse to strange food; it may bring
sickness.
15a. She wanted to go on to Aqwāqa-have.[28] So she started. Now she
came to Aqwāqa-have. There were four brothers who lived there, old
men: Nyahamo-vetaye,[29] the oldest, Otšôuta,[30] the next,
Hiδô-kwitara,[31] the next, and Kīm-ku-sumā,[32] the youngest.
[28] Aqwāqa is deer.
[29] Nyahamo "from ahmo', mortar" (?); vetaye, atai-k, large,
much. Cf. Nyahaim-, wet, moist, in ritual names.
[30] From itšou-k, to make (?). "He was well-made, good
looking."
[31] Hiδô, his eyes; kwi-tara, compare δo-tara-k, blind. "He
always looked down."
[32] Kīm-, cf. akyêm, shoot; ku-sumā, dream. He dreamed of bows
and arrows and instructed people in successful hunting, and told
how he could shoot the sky and make his arrows stick in it. He
shot at ammo, the mountain sheep (the three stars of Orion's
belt); hence people hunt mountain sheep. Two or three small
stars in a row in Orion are his arrow.
15b. Nyahamo-vetaye had a daughter. He said to her, as Nyohaiva
arrived: "When a traveler comes, you must talk to her. You must make
her come to the house and be her friend. That is the way you should
do." When the old man said that, his daughter went to Nyohaiva, took
her by the hand, and brought her to the house. Nyohaiva would not go
in, but sat outside at the corner of the house. The four men did not
know her. "I wonder who she is," they thought. She was ashamed and did
not look up. She kept her face down.
15c. Then Kīm-ku-sumā, the youngest of the four, said: "Do you not
know her? Have you not heard of her? Her name is Nyohaiva. When she
came to one place, she changed her name and took a new one. I heard
that she was coming. Now that she has come, I can tell from the way
she sits, squatting without sitting down, and from her not looking at
us, that when she goes below where there are many people, she will
stir up trouble and there will be war and you will not sleep
well."[33] He was afraid of her and wanted her to be killed.
[33] From fear of night or dawn attacks.
15d. Then Hiδô-kwitara, the next oldest brother, said: "Well, if you
will kill her, you must send word to all, so that they will come and
all our people may know it. Send a man to Haltoṭ-amītš-kwisāma to tell
him that we wish him to come; that everyone should be here in four
days. I want to roast her alive. I do not want only to kill her: I
want her blood, and her bones to crush and mix with what we eat. We
will do that on the fourth morning." Nyohaiva heard them say that; and
they, though saying it, nevertheless gave her to eat; but she would
not eat it. She had heard them say that they would kill her in four
days.
15e. After two days she went outside and dug down in the ground. There
she found a kneecap. "That is my father's bone," she said. She dug on
and found a foot bone. "That is my mother's bone," she said. She dug
on and found a rib. Then she said: "That is my brother's[34] bone. The
people here have killed them. I think that they will try to kill, me
in the same way. They recognize me from my face. They knew me because
my face was like my father's and my mother's and my brother's. How
will they kill me? I would like to know how they will do. They will
make me bet my body against something that they put up and then they
will kill me. They will bet something against me."
[34] Havīkwek, of note 22.--Finding and playing with bones of
kinsfolk who have been killed by people that are plotting to
kill the hero also, is a stock episode in Mohave mythology, and
a standard motive for fighting. Cf. the Cane myth. A game and
bet are also a usual preliminary to war. There is a seeming
contradiction in the fact that Nyohaiva, who grows from the
ground while the earth is still new, should have parents killed
long before. Most Mohave myths, however, begin with the growth
or birth of the hero; and if fighting later occurs, it is
motivated in the way just explained. Both incidents conform to
the conventional pattern according to which myths are
constructed, so the logical inconsistency does not jar.
15f. Then in four days everyone came there. Nyohaiva had kept under
the belt of her skirt the bones that she had found. Now, taking the
foot bone[35] in her hand, she said: "If you can take it away from me,
you can kill me. If you cannot take it away from me, you shall not
kill me. If I am not able to keep and hold it, you may kill me. I do
not think you will be able to take it away from me, and if you cannot
take it away, I will go off. I will try to run to Avi-'itšôrinyêne and
there I will be free. But if you can take it away from me, and bring
it to Kunyāvatš-yampeve, you can have my bones and blood." Then they
prepared to take from her the ball of bone. But she had dug a little
hole[36] and there she buried the ball and stood on it. Then she waved
her hands and made it appear as if she were hiding the bone as she
folded her arms. She said: "If you do not take it away from me before
I come as far south as Avi-'itšôrinyêne, I shall win; but if you can
get the bone to Kunyāvatš-yampeve, then I shall lose." Then they all
came toward her. She ran south, holding the bone between her toes
where they did not see it. They reached her, seized her arms, looked
for the bone in her hands, but could not find it. Again they pursued
her, seized her, held her fast, tore off all her clothes. She fell,
got up again, and ran on, scratched all over, but they did not find
the bone. Then, when she came to Avi-'itšôrinyêne, she threw the bone
up, and they all stopped. So this one woman had beaten those people.
"I have beaten you all. I have dreamed well. In four days we shall
have war," she said, and stretched out her arm towards them with four
fingers extended (spread in defiance). They stood and looked at her
and thought: "Did I not know it? You cannot overcome her. She is
Nyohaiva. Now we have made trouble for ourselves. Everything will be
turned over." (4 songs.)
[35] Perhaps a heel bone, as it is later spoken of as a ball.
[36] With her toes.
16. From there Nyohaiva went down the river to Avi-haly'a.[37] There
she saw Amaly-kapaka[38] who had come to that place with many people.
She said to him: "I can tell about your body and about you. I can tell
about another thing too: I say there will be war in four days." (4
songs.)
[37] Moon-rock, or moon-mountain. It was recorded as -hily'a
(Yuma form?), whereas the Mohave for moon is haly'a.
[38] Again an insect. Amaly-kapaka are small flies such as
settle on horses.
17. She went on again. As she traveled she kept saying that there
would be war in four days. There was no one there and she was all
alone, nevertheless she told of the war. Then she came to Avê-ny-eva.
Two men lived there, Ahma-kunuhwilye and Tšem-korrave,[39] his
younger brother. She came to the house in which they were. She stood
at the door and did not say a word. They did not know her, so they
said: "Who is it?" Then she told them: "I am Aθ'inkumeδī. I have come
to announce war: I say it will be in four days. That is why I have
come here: I have come to tell you in how many days there will be
war." The two men said: "I know Aθ'inkumeδī: she is Nyohaiva. I know
her." (1 song.)
[39] Both brothers are green worms or caterpillars that live in
cottonwood trees. They have a bitter taste. The ordinary name of
Ahma-kunuhwilye is hamasukwenpa. A similar black worm is called
amiθe. Ahma, quail, is also a small bitter melon, not good to
eat; ku-nuhwilye is to drag. Korrave, or kw-irrave, means pain.
Tšem-korrave was thinking of his food, hukθara-nyamely-a'uva,
coyote's-food-tobacco, a strong, pungent, wild tobacco.
18. Then she went on and came to a place to which she gave the name
Qapotaq-iv'auve. She stood there and said: "I can tell where I am: I
have dreamed well." Now she was there alone, but she said: "I say we
shall have war." Then she tried what she could do. She trotted, to the
south one step (_sic_). Then she came back. Then she trotted one step
to the west and returned, then one to the north, then one to the
east.[40] Then she pulled out one hair on her right side and threw it
to the west, and it began to rain. She said: "I thought I should do
that. I dreamed about war: that is my power; I know that." (4 songs,
one about each direction.)
[40] Sunwise circuit, beginning with the south. This is unusual,
but she is traveling south.
19. She went on down again until she came to Avi-tuva'auve. There she
stood and said: "I thought the sky was far off. I thought the earth,
too, was far around, and that its end could not be told. But now, when
I have arrived here, the sky is not far away, and the (end of the)
earth is near." Thus she thought. (2 songs.)
20. She went on again and came to Ak'ulye-tšakapāva, a high hill, on
which she stood. From there she heard and saw many men. She said:
"They have been away a long time. I heard of that; I see it now. They
are ready to make war. I see them prepared with feathers, with bows
and arrows and war clubs, and with paint, ready to fight." (2 songs.)
21. From there she went on, running. When she had gone part of the way
to where she had seen the people, she came to a rock. She stood on
this. This rock had no name. She said: "I give it a name. I call it
Avi-tšitše." From there she again saw the people all ready for war. "I
am glad," she said, as she saw them playing and wearing feathers and
carrying bows and clubs. (4 songs.)
22. She went on down along the river again. Four times she ran and
rested. Then she began to be near the place. Now she had long hair[41]
and wore a dress of willow bark.[42] Then she thought: "How shall I
approach them?" Then she took some of the strands of her dress from one
side and the other and tied them across the front like a belt. She did
not tie her hair, but grasped it on both sides and twisted the two
masses into a knot behind.[43] "And I want to do something to look
pretty," she said. She took a handful of dirt and rubbed it across her
jaw and her forehead. "That will not do: it will not show," she said.
Putting her hands down to the ground once more, she dug. Then she
reached into the hole and took out white earth paint. From a handful she
made four horizontal stripes across her face. These were white and
plain. "That is better. Now I look well. And I will give a name to this
place. I will call it Amaṭ-ehê'-iδauve.[44] Now it has a name." (4
songs.)
[41] Halfway down her thigh.
[42] Reaching below the knee.
[43] Tšumkwinevek.
[44] Amaṭ-ehê', white earth paint.
23. Then she started and ran again. She ran twice and rested. Then she
arrived where those people were. She did not go in among them, but
stood off at a little distance. She saw that they were prepared and
ready for war, with feathers and bows and clubs and all weapons. Then
Hivilyk-kemohakwe,[45] a man who was there, called to her, "Come!" She
came nearer but soon stood still. "Come!" he called again. Again she
came but stopped. "Come!" he said once more, and again she came but
stood. Again he said, "Come!" This time she came in among the crowd.
She still held white paint in her hand. When the people saw this, they
all took some from her, put it into their own hands, spat on them,
rubbed them together to make them white, then drew their finger-tips
over their palms, and with their fingers painted white marks on their
hair. They said: "We will fight. We want to prepare because we will
fight." They all did that. Then Nyohaiva said to them: "It is well.
But wait: I will think about it. I will tell you how to go, how to
arrive, how to fight. Now I want to give a name to this place so that
all will know from where we started to go to war. The name of this
place is Ava-tšohai.[46] Now all will know it." (4 songs.)
[45] Evidently a bird, like the other leaders among his people.
Hivi-lye, on my shoulder; kemohakwe, "cf. hakehake,
many-colored."--"His other name was Itoke-pilyuwake," (a small,
red-bellied, sharp-billed bird).
[46] In Arizona, above Yuma, well below Parker. This is as far
south as she travels. Ava is house.
24. Then she said: "Who dreamed about war? Who knows how to fight? Who
will be leader? The first will be Horrave-sakamīm.[47] The next will be
Aqāqa-suverevere-ketukupanye.[48] The next will be Ampot-ahwaṭe."[49]
She herself was to be the fourth. Horrave-sakamīm was to be the leader
and go first and kill. All wanted to go along. (3 songs.)
[47] The blackbird with a white spot behind its eye.
Horrave-sakamīm means "lighting-extinguish."
[48] A similar bird with an erect crest. Aqāqa, raven or crow;
su-verevere, rope or band of erect trimmed raven feathers;
ke-tukupánye, tie on the head.
[49] The red-winged blackbird. Ampot-ahwaṭe, red-dust. He
painted each shoulder red before fighting.
25. Now they were ready and wanted to cross the river. They
gathered, tied driftwood into bundles, and put their weapons on
them.[50] Then they crossed to the west side of the river and came
to Ahpe-hwêlyeve.[51] "When we arrive there I will tell you more,"
Nyohaiva said. (4 songs.)
[50] Improvised ferriage to keep bowstrings dry.
[51] Ahpe', metate or grinding slab.
26. Nyohaiva said: "Men who are at war do not stay long in one place;
they do not rest, but go on. Let us go at once." Then they went north
along the west side of the river. They continued to go on to
Amaṭ-tato'itše. Then she said: "Let us rest: all sit in the shade."
Now Hivilyk-kemohakwe went off from them up on the mesa to see if
there was anyone to fight. As he looked north to see if there were
smoke or dust, he stepped on an ataṭa (Mamillaria) cactus. The thorns
entered his foot, hurt, and he was unable to walk. He returned
crawling on his knees. Then Nyohaiva said; "See, we have bad luck. If
we had good luck, the thorn would not have entered you: now your luck
is bad." Then she drew out all the thorns. "Now you are well again:
you will walk. Let me see you!" He tried to walk but could not yet.
Then she spoke and sang once more, and now he had no pain and could
walk again. "Let us go on," she said. (2 songs.)
27. They went northward. When they came to Aqwāqa-mūnyô, they saw dust
and smoke and heard noise. Nyohaiva said: "That is near the place.
That is near my father's and mother's and brother's bones. I came by
there. I know they are there, those whom we go to fight. Now all do as
I want you to. I wish all tribes to fight. If I did not fight, no one
in future would fight." She thought of what she was about to do, and
how pleasant it would be, and that they were all to learn how to make
the war dance. (3 songs.)
28. They started on again. Now they were near, at
Matha-tše-kwilyeve,[52] and stopped. There were hills there and a wash
and a little mesa. Someone was standing on the mesa. He ran down
toward them. Nyohaiva saw him coming and said: "I think they are
sending a message to us. They are sending someone as a spy. Or perhaps
he is coming to meet me, to tell me that there will be war. I see him:
he is coming." Now that person came among the crowd. He was not
afraid. Nyohaiva saw him and said: "Oh, you are my brother."[53] Then
he said: "There where you see the smoke and hear the noise they killed
my father and mother and brother and took their bones and played with
them. They enslaved me. Now they have let me go. 'He is going to
become something,' they said of me." His body was a person's, but he
had horns. He wore skin clothing. Then Nyohaiva took his shirt, his
leggings, and his moccasins from him. She sent him away to the west to
eat grass and become a mountain sheep.[54] "Go that way," she said.
"The mountains there will be full of sheep. East of the river there
will be no sheep in the mountains. When you find grass, eat that. I
call you hômô.[55] Now you are hômô." (4 songs.)
[52] Matha-, wind, also north.
[53] Navīkwek, sibling or twin, as ante, notes 22, 34. "She was
the older."
[54] Ammo.
[55] Said to be "the Chemehuevi word" for mountain sheep. This
however is naah. Hômô is not the form in any known Yuman
dialect. It may represent distorted Mohave as it is supposed to
be pronounced by the Chemehuevi.
29. Then they went on again until they came to Koθîlye. There
Aθ'inkumeδī (Nyohaiva) entered the river up to her knees. The water
rushing about her legs made a noise and frightened her. She said: "I
will tell of this water. Then the river will not run fast. It will
flow slowly. I will make it be like that, not as it is now." So she
told[56] about the river. When she had sung three times, the river
flowed smoothly and they crossed to the eastern side once more. (3
songs.)
[56] Sang?
30. Now when they had arrived on that side, all took up their feathers
and paint, and Nyohaiva said: "Put on your feathers and paint. Paint
yourselves black, but your hair red. I will tell you what to do. I
will sing about you." (4 songs.)
31. Then, when all were dressed, they went on. They went without
stopping, and as they walked Nyohaiva continued to talk. The four
leaders[57] went ahead; the others were behind. Nyohaiva said: "I will
reach them first. I will begin the fight." As she walked she sang
about their steps, and as their arms swung she sang of those. For a
little distance she sang thus. (5 songs.)
[57] Nyohaiva and the three blackbirds.
32. Now they were near, and all of them ready, painted and wearing
feathers and holding their clubs. Then Nyohaiva said: "I dreamed well:
no one can surpass me." She wanted to do something. She spat on her
hand, rubbed her hands together to make a ball magically, and threw it
towards the people at Aqwāqa-have. "That will make them sleep," she
said. What she threw entered Nyahamô-vetaye's house and hit a post. It
was nearly sundown and Nyahamô-vetaye's people were still outdoors;
but now they all came in; everyone went in. Nyohaiva said: "See, they
are all entering. We shall overcome them. They can do nothing against
us. I am able to make them all go into the house. You will see that
they all sleep. Now we four will go in: the rest of you stay here."
Then the four leaders went on and entered the house. They were looking
for one man. In the dark Nyohaiva put her hand on the legs and faces
of the sleepers in order to find him. As she touched them she made
them weak and sleepy. Then she found the man in the middle of the
house. She put her hand on his body and on his ear and knew him
because he lacked one ear. His hair was long and he had it coiled in a
large bunch, on which his head was resting.[58] Nyohaiva said: "This
is he for whom I was looking: this is Otšôuta, who wanted to kill
me.[59] Now I have found him and will kill him." Then the four carried
him outside. Nyohaiva said to him: "I will take your head from you
alive. I will tell you about it before I kill you." As Otšôuta sat
there,[60] she seized his hair and pulled it. Four times she moved him
as she pulled it. The fourth time she said: "Now I will behead you. I
have no knife, but I can kill you with my thumbnail." Then she felt
about his neck. She knew where the bones joined: there she cut him
with her thumbnail. She cut entirely around his neck, cut off his
head, and held it up. The body lay there, jumped up, walked, fell
down, jumped again, fell, and died only after a time. Then Nyohaiva
said: "Now we will tell about this head."[61] (4 songs.)
[58] Evidently using a coil of his long plastered pencils of
hair as a pillow, a sleeping habit not specifically reported
before.
[59] The story has mentioned only his two younger brothers as
urging her death.
[60] He was apparently awake now, but unable to move.
[61] Such a head, their usual war trophy, is commonly called a
"scalp" in English by the Mohave.
33. Then she said to her people: "Let us go northward on this side of
the river. I have heard that people live here; but we will not go near
them. They want war with us, but we will not stay." So they went. They
came to Aha-δekupīδa.[62] They went on past that place, on up the
river until they came to Sama'ôkusa. Many people lived there. There
were four men[63] there, Alyha'-tuyāme, Alyha'-tokwīme, Alyha'-tšaôre,
and Alyha'-mīṭ-kusāma.[63a] Many people wanted to see the head that
she brought, but Nyohaiva said: "No, I will not show it to you now. I
will let you see it, but not now. You will see it in time." She hid
the head under her dress. She would not show it to them. She said:
"When I show it and you sing, all will know what to do with it." Then
she marked a ring on the ground. She stood in the center and waved
her hand to the people to come. "Come, all of you, and see this head,"
she said. All came and stood about. Then she threw the head up so that
it fell on the ground: she threw it up four times. Then she said: "Now
you have seen the head: you all know it. Now we will sing about it."
Then she sang about its bones, its eyes, its eyelashes, its tongue,
its mouth, its teeth, and its nose. (4 songs.)
[62] "Owl water."
[63], [63a] Alyha' is a transvestite, a man living a woman's
life. Such people would be likely to be prominent in a dance in
which women participated. Tuyame, tayām-k, walk in a circle;
-tokwīme, stand in one place; tšaôre, said to be connected with
kavaôrem, to step on, as on the heel of one in
front; -mīṭ-kusāma, perhaps from amītš, far, kw-isam, see.
34. She said: "Now you have all seen what I do. That is how I want you
to do. After I am dead,[64] you will do the same. But there is another
thing." She made four heaps of sand. Then she ran to the south,
returned, and with her right foot stirred in one of the heaps. She ran
east and returned and stirred in another heap; then north, and stirred
in another heap; then west, and stirred in the fourth.[65] As she
stirred that one, she took out from it[66] a sandbar-willow (ihore)
stick, a long wand. On the end of it she tied the hair of the head so
that it waved.[67] "That is how I do," she said. "That is how I want
you to do." (4 songs.)
[64] Have become transformed.
[65] Anti-sunwise circuit, beginning at south.
[66] By magic.
[67] Now a true scalp.
35. When they had finished that, she said: "When there is war and a
scalp is taken, people will do as I have done. They will dance and
enjoy themselves. All will be happy and will play and sing. I have
done that. Now I wonder what I shall be. I wonder where I shall go."
As she thought, she was holding the skull of the head in her hand. She
went eastward two steps and stood there. "The name of this place is
Amaṭ-ya'āma,"[68] she said. Then, standing there, she threw Otšôuta's
skull far south, nearly to Yuma. "I want it to become a rock," she
said. Then it became the rock called Avi-melyekyête.[69]
[68] About four miles east of the Mohave Reservation Agency at
Parker, in Arizona.
[69] A sharp upright rock at Picacho at the foot of the
Chocolate mountains, above Yuma. According to Ford, Ethnography
of the Yuma, p. 102, there was a historic Yuma village here.
36. Now the people there stood in a circle about her. She was thinking
about her own body. "I wonder what color I shall be: white or blue or
yellow? Well, I will turn black. I shall be a rock, but all will know
me, that I am Nyohaiva. My name will be Avi-soqwīlye.[70] All will
know that rock and that it is Nyohaiva." (No songs.)
[70] A black rock, "as large as a house," on which soqwīlye
hawks nest. It is about a quarter of a mile from Amaṭ-ya'āma.
The transformation is appropriate for the leading character of a
war cycle, because dreaming of soqwīlye hawks is what makes
warriors.
THE SONG SCHEME
As already said, the Nyohaiva singing is "short": it requires only one
night to complete, probably including a certain amount of narration.
I give the number of songs at each point, first as the narrator
volunteered them in telling the full text, and next as he subsequently
revised them in a review of the skeleton of the story. There are the
usual discrepancies; some perhaps due to misunderstanding; more,
probably, to his not having in mind any really fixed scheme of the
number of songs at each place.
_Outline_
_Origin, Identity, Future_
1. Born at Miakwa'orve 3 3
2. South to Iδô-kuva'īre 2 1
3. Yuma Av'alyunu singing like Mohave Nyohaiva 1 0
4. At Selye'aya-kumītše, about her identity 4 4
5. At Kamahnulye, the same 4 4
6. At Savêt-tôhe, the same 3 3
_Detour to the Walapai_
7. At Aha-kuvilye, about buckskin shirt wearers 4 1
8. Returning from the Walapai to the river 4 3
_Southward again_
9. At Hotūrveve, on the trail 1 1
10. At Iveθīkwe-'akyulye, about her new name 4 4
11. At Amaṭ-ehê'-kwaδôske, claimed as sister 3 3
12. At Ho'aunye-vatše, claimed again 3 3
13. At Ahmo-kutšeθīlye, hears singing ahead 2 (?)
_Magic, Game Won, Defiance_
14. Flies as arrow to Amaṭa-kwitše; afraid to eat 3 3
15. From Aqwāqa-have to Avi-tšôrinyêne, wins
contest, defiance 4 4
_War Will Come_
16. At Avi-haly'a, telling of war coming 4 4
17. At Avê-ny-eva, same 1 1
18. At Qapotaq-ivauve, the cardinal directions 4 3
19. At Avi-tuva'auve, the sky is near 2 3
20. At Akulye-tšakapava 2 3
21. Avi-tšitše named 4 3
22. At Amaṭ-ehê-'iδauve, about white paint 4 3
_War Party Got up_
23. At Ava-tšohai, reaching allies 4 4
24. Horrave-sakamīm appointed leader there 3 0
_On the March, and Preparations_
25. Crossing the river to Ahpe-hwêlyeve 4 2
26. At Amaṭ-tato'itše, curing cactus spine 2 2
27. At Aqwāqa-mūnyô, on the way to battle 3 3
28. At Matha-tše-kwilyeve, meeting mountain sheep 4 3
29. At Koθīlye, crossing the river 3 3
30. Across it, painting themselves 4 3
31. On the way, about her steps and arms 5 3
_The Stupefied Foe Is Beheaded_
32. At Aqwāqa-have again, Otšôuta decapitated 4 4
_The Victory Dance_
33. At Sama'ôkusa, about his scalp; the Alyha' 4 4
34. At same place, the scalp on the pole 4 4
_Transformation of Victim and Victor_
35. At Amaṭ-ya'āma, Otšôuta's skull thrown to
Picacho Rock 0 4
36. Nyohaiva turns into Hawk-Rock 0 0
___ ___
110 98+
The first list aggregates 110 songs in 34 groups; the second, 98 or
100 in 33. In the first list, groups of four songs are most frequent,
occurring 17 times. In the second list groups of four occur only 10
times, but groups of three 16 times. In short, in the second
enumeration the typical group consists of three instead of four songs.
At what appear to be crucial points--Nyohaiva's identity, her new
name, the contest, Otšôuta's killing, the scalp dance--the two lists
agree in naming the full complement of four songs. Evidently there is
some sense that lesser episodes merit fewer songs. That this sense of
relative weight is fairly constant is shown by the fact that of 31
places or stages to which both lists attribute songs, 19 have the same
number; 9 differ by only one song, as three for four or three for two;
and only 3 differ more widely: see paragraphs 7, 25, 31. There is thus
evident a plan in the narrator's mind for relative elaboration of
songs in different parts of the story. This plan is adhered to with
approximate consistency or repetition; but it is no precise ritual
scheme fixed in memory.
As usual, the song scheme serves also as a synopsis of the narrative.
I have therefore organized it by introducing captions. It is evident
from this outline that only about three of the thirty-odd sections
contain vigorous plot such as is the usual content of myths and tales
in cultures of the same general level as the Mohave. These are
sections 14 and especially 15 and 32. If to these are added the first
and last one or two brief sections, to give the heroine an origin and
an end, we have about the equivalent of what most American tribes
would use to make a tale. The remaining sections, nearly thirty, are
Mohave filling, or prolixity, dispensable incidents which make the
story run slower but give opportunity to build up the singing into a
long series, a real cycle, corresponding to a ritual among other
tribes. This song association is presumably the cause of the dilatory
narration; though it is also clear that the Mohave like the
strung-along episodes for their own sake, and maintain the habit even
when the narrative is unaccompanied by songs, as in the Mastamho myth
and Great Tale.
The difference in manner, according as interest in plot or in song
themes prevails, is shown by the fact that the three paragraphs
mentioned (14, 15, 32) take up about three-tenths of the length of the
narrative, but have only one-tenth of the songs referring to them.
That is, Mohave singing is far from really dramatic. Its text tends to
be pensive, subjective, reflective on incidents. When the action
becomes eventful, tense, or critical, the songs become few, or drop
out, until the flow of the narrative quiets again.
From one to four of the songs of each of the groups were
phonographically recorded in cylinders catalogued as 14-228 to 14-269
in the University of California Museum of Anthropology. The
correspondence of these phonograms to the sections of the narrative is
as follows:
_Sections_ _Phonograms_
1 228-230
2 231
4-7 232-235
9-12 236-239
14-23 240-249
25-32 250-257
33 258, 264-266
34 259, 267-269
35 260-263
That is, all the songs pertaining to the first section and the three
last sections were recorded; but only the first of each group of songs
for the other sections.
IV. RAVEN
This song-myth was recorded near Needles on March 19, 1903, from
Pamitš, "Weeping Person," a middle-aged man of the Sun-fire-deer-eagle
clan, who call their daughters Nyo'iltša (or Nyôrtša after they have
lost a child). Jack Jones interpreted. The story has been previously
outlined and discussed in Handbook of the California Indians, page
761, and some songs given on page 758. It was there characterized as
"a curious tale within a tale, if it can be called a story at all. The
[boy] heroes do nothing but move thirty feet, sing all night, and
disappear [as ravens] at daybreak. What they sing of is what any
Mohave would be likely to sing of if he sat up. The story is thus but
a pallid reflection of the conventional subjects of Mohave singing."
This judgment is confirmed by the outline of songs given below.
While Raven is said by the Mohave to be sung at celebrations and to
refer to war, along with Tumanpa, Vinimulye, and Nyohaiva, it differs
from the last two of these--which have just been given--in that these
contain actual narratives of fighting as the central theme of the
plot; whereas Raven merely sings of war customs in the abstract. There
is also no travel in Raven, except mental travel. Tumanpa is like
Raven in that it has no war story; like Vinimulye and Nyohaiva in that
there is journeying; and is peculiar--especially for a war and
festival song-cycle--in that its formal theme is incest.
NARRATOR'S STATEMENTS
Pamitš said to me: "I was a baby boy [meaning a foetus--see below]
when I dreamed this singing: it was given me by the Ravens. Now I am a
man, but have not forgotten it. I dreamed it before I ever was born.
If I had been born when I dreamed it, I would have forgotten it. No, I
did not learn it from other Mohaves; and I did not hear any of them
sing it. In fact, no one else sings like this, for it was I that
dreamed it myself." Later he added: "Only I and Jo Nelson" (the
narrator of the Mastamho Myth, VII, below) "know this Raven, and he
learned it from me; he did not dream it. Jo is my paternal cousin,
itškāk" (a term not recorded otherwise). "If one of us two dies, the
other will sing Raven for him all of a day and a night. My older
brother, and his son, also learned it from me. And my grown-up
daughter learned it, without dreaming: I will sing it for her if she
dies, or she for me."
He added: "When a raven is on the ground, he hops twice before rising
in flight. That is why I shake my gourd rattle downward twice before
raising it to sing; and why the women who are to dance hop twice
before I start my song. Then, when I shake it upward, they just walk
past me; until, a few beats before the end of the song (8 or 10 bars),
I make a long downward sweep of the rattle, nearly to the ground. This
is the signal for the women to begin to dance. When we do like this,
in the daytime, it is outdoors, and I walk slowly back and forth, and
the women dance forward and backward, following me. When I sing
indoors, there is no dancing, and I stay seated in one place near the
middle of the house all night, except sometimes I rise to my knees."
I did not see an actual Raven dance, but it was illustrated for me as
follows. The women bend their knees somewhat so that their skirt hem
is lowered perhaps four or five inches. They then sag and rise in the
knee an inch or two, without moving their feet or even rising on their
toes. The body is inclined slightly forward, the head is erect, the
eyes wide open and looking level (not lowered as by Plains Indian
women); the arms hang straight down, almost stiffly, the wrists
perhaps being bent back a trifle. When the women move forward and
back, they shuffle their feet forward (or back) an inch or two at each
step, without raising them from the ground.
OUTLINE OF SONG SCHEME
_Growth:_
1. Birth of the brothers 4
2. Cane buzzers 4
3. Darkness and war 4
4. Gourd rattles 4 16
_Night:_
5. Bat flying west 6
6. Stars 12
7. Cane 18 36
_War:_
8. Hostile tribes 4
9. Wind and dust and war 4?
10. Brave men 4
11. Fighting 4
12. Captive women 2
13. Scalped men 4
14. Return with the scalps 4
15. Arrival at Bill Williams Fork 4
16. The start next morning 4
17. Message of victory 4
18. Dance with the scalps 22
19. Gathering and feast 8 68
_Birds:_
20. Masohwaṭ bird 12
21. Night hawk 4
22. Curve-billed thrasher 8
23. Mockingbird 6 30
_Tribal Life:_
24. Grinding food 6
25. Play at Miakwa'orve 2 8
_Transformation:_
26. Bodies of the brothers 4
27. Their knowledge 4
28. Their future shape 4
29. New names 4
30. Wish to change 4
31. Learning to fly 4
32. Departure 4 28
---
Total 186
THE RAVEN STORY
1. It was at Ha'avulypo that Matavilya built the first house.[1] After
he died, two brothers, Aqāqa, the Ravens, were there. When such birds
find anything that has died, they eat it; but they would not have
eaten Matavilya then, even if they had seen him. But they did not see
him, for these two, the older and the younger brother, only grew from
the ground where the northwest corner of the house had been, after
this house had been burned down.[2] The name of the older brother was
Humar-kwiδe, of the younger, Humar-hanga.[3] They were little boys
then--not Ravens. They looked up to the sky, and all about, and saw
that the world had been made. Then they looked toward the south. As
they sat, they each sang two songs; first the older, then the younger.
(4 songs.)[4]
[1] As told more fully in other accounts.
[2] As doors are to the south, this would be the right rear
corner, from inside.
[3] Humar is boy; the sound ng does not occur in Mohave speech,
but is frequent in the distorted forms which words assume when
sung. Hang is also the Mohave idea of the reverberating sound
produced by beating or scraping a basket set in front of the
mouth of a jar--the proper accompaniment to certain song-series.
[4] The first song of the four is: humīk pi'ipaik nakwiδauk,
now-both being-alive we-sit-here.
2. Then they said to each other: "My brother, we will leave this
place. We grew here. We came out of the corner here, but now we will
leave it." So they started from their corner, crawling forward on
their bent legs a short distance, four times: but they thought they
were walking. Then they began to talk of cane-buzzers[5] which they
had. There was no cane there then. Nevertheless they had cane, both
ahta-hamaka and ahta-hatšima, large cane and small cane. They said: "I
hear canes swaying in the wind in the west and in the south." They
heard it rustling. That is why large cane grows in the south below
Yuma, and in the west; but not in this country. They sang twice each.
(4 songs.)
[5] A toy, a piece of cane as large as a finger, through which a
string is passed on which it is revolved against the teeth.
3. Then they said:[6] "Listen to what we tell. We have dreamed well.
We can divide the dark and the stars.[7] You do not know it, but you
will have war. We did not learn that from Matavilya: we dreamed it. We
are telling what is so: You will see. We are brave and tell of things
which we have dreamed." (4 songs.)[8]
[6] "Said to me," in the narrator's words.
[7] Referring to wars of the Mohave against the Halchidhoma and
Cocopa.
[8] The words of the first of these songs about dreaming are:
sumāk imank akanavek.
4. Now as they sang, they had no gourd (rattles). They said: "We have
no gourds. That will not do. When people make war and kill an enemy
and dance, it will be well that they have such things." Now they were
about to make a gourd to give to me.[9] They said: "We have none yet
but we can make it." Then the older one stood up, turned to the west,
to the north, to the east, and to the south.[10] Then he had a gourd
in his right hand. He said: "It will be well, when a man sings, to use
that. Everyone will like to hear it." (4 songs.)[11]
[9] Viz., to the narrator.
[10] Clockwise circuit beginning with the west.
[11] The words of these four songs are: 1, ahnālya hiδauk
imat-kievek kanavek, gourd hold when-have tell; 2, ahnalya oalya
viv'aum, gourd I-show standing; 3, ahnalya hiδauk amaim-itšiak
viv'aum, gourd I-hold upward-raise-it standing; 4, iδauk
akanavek viv'aum atšδumk atšikavakek viv'aum, I-hold-it
I-tell-of-it standing look-here look-there standing. Atšiδumk
and atšikavakek may refer to upstream and downstream (north and
south).
5. The two Ravens had not yet gone far from their corner. They were
still near the place where they had grown, and still in the house.[12]
Then the older said: "My brother, there is another thing we will tell
about. The bat has started from the east in the darkness and is flying
westward. I hear him. It is he." The youngest did not know that. The
older sang three songs and the younger three. (6 songs.)[13]
[12] The confines of what had been the house.
[13] The first of these six songs runs: tinyam-kaltšieska
himan-kuyamk akanavek sivarek, night-bat rising-flies I-tell-it
sing-it.
6. Then the older said: "There is another thing that I will tell of. I
will tell about Orion (ammo, the mountain sheep, the three stars of
the belt of Orion), and also about six that are near them (Hatša, the
Pleiades). I will sing about those." Then he sang six times and his
younger brother sang six times. (12 songs.)
7. Now the older said again: "There is another thing that we will sing
about. It is the large cane that we heard far down in the south and
west." They each sang nine songs about that. (18 songs.)[14]
[14] From here on the repetitious statements of assignment of
half of each song group to each brother will be omitted.
8. Then they said: "Now let us sing of other tribes, in the south, the
Halchidhoma and the Cocopa. We know more than they. We have dreamed
well and are brave and can beat them." He meant that no tribe could
overcome the Mohave in war. They each sang two songs about this. (4
songs.)
9. Then they said: "There is another thing we will sing about. We will
tell of wind and dust. When we go to fight those people, the wind will
blow and the dust will fly so that they will not see us. When we sing
thus the wind will blow hard." (4? songs.)
10. Again they said: "There is another thing. Some men have dreamed
well and are brave, but not all men are like that. When there is war,
brave men will be the first to see where the houses of the enemy are.
There will be only a few men who will have that power.[15] They will
not be afraid in the day nor in the night. You will see that." (4
songs.)
[15] By dreaming.
11. "There is another thing. The Mohave will have war with other
tribes. They will not begin to fight at night, but in the day. They
will use bows and arrows. We tell of that. We sing of fighting." (4
songs.)
12. Then they said: "When there is war, women will be captured.
Perhaps two or three will be taken. They will stand with their heads
down, ashamed." (2 songs.)
13. "There is another thing that we will tell about. That is scalping.
When they fight, there will be men killed with long hair, and these
will be scalped." (4 songs.)
14. They said: "When they have taken a scalp and go back to this
country,[16] they will sing over it." (4 songs.)
[16] Really the narrator's country, Mohave valley. The Ravens
are still at Ha'avulypo, many miles north.
15. They said: "When they have fought and have taken scalps and
slaves, and have started to return, they will come to Hakutšyepe."[17]
(4 songs.)
[17] Bill Williams Fork of the Colorado River.
16. They said: "When they have slept there, in the morning one of them
will say, 'Get up.'" (4 songs.)
17. They said: "After they have started from there, they will come to
Amaṭ-aθove. Then they will send word to the people in this country.
They will announce: 'We have taken scalps and slaves. Prepare for the
dance.' Who will carry the news to them? His name is Irra'um-kumaδaye.
Then when word is sent, all will hear it." (4 songs.)
18. They said: "When they return and bring the scalps and the slaves,
all the people will gather and a place will be prepared to dance. We
will sing of that." (22 songs.)[18]
[18] The substance of this paragraph was given twice by the
narrator. As he first mentioned 4 songs and then 22, it is
possible that he meant to sing twice on this topic.
19. They said: "Now when all come to the appointed place and bring
food, there will be a gathering."[19] (8 songs.)
[19] Yimatšk, festival.
20. They said: "There is another thing we are thinking of. We will
tell about it. I hear the sound of a bird, far up in the sky, as it
comes from the east. That bird has been here, but went away. It is our
bird. We know it, though we have never seen it. Its name is
Masohwaṭ."[20] (12 songs.)
[20] Frequently mentioned and probably mythical. It is described
as bright red and larger than a raven. It does not live in the
Mohave country. It is also called Sakatôre, it is said.
21. They said: "There is another bird, Orro.[21] It knows where to
obtain daylight. It goes east and brings the day. Thus it makes
morning." (4 songs.)
[21] The night hawk.
22. They said again: "There is another bird, Hotokoro.[22] We hear it
making a noise." (8 songs.)
[22] The curve-billed thrasher, probably. See Mastamho, VII, 85
seq.
23. Then they said: "Different birds sing differently. There is a bird
that we know, Sakwaθa'alya.[23] We will tell of him." (6 songs.)
[23] The mockingbird. One of the songs about him is:
sakwaθa'alya me'eptekwoa melerqênye hiolk ikavavek, mockingbird
you-are-the-one (?) from-throat loudly tell. See Mastamho, VII,
85 seq.
24. Then the older brother said: "I want to know what we shall be. I
want to know what the people will do. I want to know all that." He was
thinking about it. He said: "We will tell another thing. We will tell
about grinding food." (6 songs)[24]
[24] The first of these six songs runs: ahpe hamutšye (for
hamukye) tawām taδi(tsa)-tawam, metate muller grind maize-grind.
25. He said: "When we have finished telling about everything, we will
go outdoors. There is a place called Miakwa'orve.[25] All the people
will come there to enjoy themselves; they will play and sing." (2
songs.)
[25] Near Fort Mohave.
26. Now the Ravens moved, as before, creeping on their legs, still not
walking. They moved from the place where they had sat, near the back
corner of the house, to near the door. Then the elder said: "My
younger brother, we will tell of our body: of our legs, our arms, our
head, our nose. We will tell of every part of our bodies before we go
outdoors." (4 songs.)
27. Then they both stood up. Now they were able to walk: they were
young men. They said: "We have told all we know. It is enough. Anyone
who dreams of us and sees us, will know everything, and will be able
to tell all that we have said. We have not seen what we tell of,
nevertheless we know all these things." (4 songs.)
28. Now they stood outside the door. Standing there, they said: "What
shall we be? Now we are persons, but what shall we turn into? Shall we
live in the air, or on the earth, or in the timber? Shall our bodies
be black, or yellow, or red? How will it be?" (4 songs.)
29. Then the older brother said: "Which will be the best way to go? I
do not yet know. I want to change my name. When we were born in the
corner of the house we were called Humar-kwiδe and Humar-hanga. Now we
shall not have those names any longer. My name will be Sowêltek." And
the younger said: "My name will be Eteqwesongk."[26] (4 songs.)
[26] These two names are said to refer respectively to flapping
and flying.
30. They did not stand still, but walked eastward and back. Then stood
and then walked toward the north and back, then west and back, then
southward and back.[27] Now they did not want to be persons any
longer. They sang four songs, two each, one for each direction. (4
songs.)
[27] Counterclockwise, starting in the east: cf. note 10; also
Appendix I. The Mohave frequently mention cardinal circuits and
sometimes associate colors with the points, but without any
fixed direction of the circuit or fixed color association. As
ritual symbolism, their material has not set. The fact and
content of dreaming are more important to them than precisely
formulated ritual pattern.
31. Then they said: "We have finished. We have told about our entire
bodies. Now we wish to have feathers." Then they had feathers over
their bodies. They tried to fly up but could not yet go far. They rose
only as high as a house. Four times they tried, but said: "No, we
cannot yet fly." (4 songs.)
32. Now the older stood on the east, the younger on the west, both
facing the south. It had been night but now it was becoming morning.
Then the older said; "The darkness comes from the east and goes west
and I will follow it. Now I have another name. My name is
Aqāqa-hatšyara.[28] I will go to the Kamia.[29] I will never return. I
will be Crow and will not come to this country." Then he followed the
darkness to the southwest. That is why he is black.
[28] Crow.
[29] The Diegueño, or perhaps more properly the Diegueño
offshoot in the desert and along the river whom we call Kamia.
The Mohave say that the Kamia, the Yuma, and they themselves
sing Raven songs, but the Kamia series is different.
Then the younger said: "My name will be Tinyamhat-mowaipha."[30] He
did not leave this country but stayed here. He is Raven.
[30] "Dark-dusk," or dusky night.
Now they had turned into birds. No one changed them, but they became
thus. They went with the darkness and therefore are black. As they
flew off, they said: "We fly with the help of the wind. When the wind
blows hard, we fly high: it helps us; it whirls us around." (4
songs.)[31]
[31] The last song of the cycle is: matahaik (for mat-haik)
ikwêrevik, wind whirls.
V. DEER
DISCUSSION
This tale of Aqwāq-sivāre or Deer-singing was recorded at Needles, on
March 21, 1903, from Yellow-thigh, known also as Enter-fire and
Three-horses, a man of one of the Tobacco clans, who call their
daughters Kaṭa. Yellow-thigh did not profess to have dreamed this
song-myth-cycle: he said he had learned it from his older relatives.
His son also knew it.
The beginning and end of the story, comprising about a quarter of its
length, deal with two great felines, Jaguar and Mountain Lion. At
least, that is who they are here construed as being: certain doubts of
identification will be discussed in a moment. These two create for
themselves a pair of Deer, who travel eastward for two nights and on
the second day of their journey are ambushed by the cats who have gone
ahead to lie in wait for them in the Walapai country, in order that
the Walapai may learn hunting. Three-fourths of the story relate to
the wanderings of the Deer, and all the songs of the cycle except the
very last set are sung by them. The listener's emotional
identification is thus with the Deer, rather than with their creators
and destroyers; as the cycle name would also indicate. The result is
that most of the tale is pervaded by a flavor of doom, such as the
Mohave manage to inject, however inarticulately, into many of their
mythical narratives.
The geography--after formal respects are paid to the beginning of
things at Ha'avulypo--is simple: a west-to-east journey from
Gabrielino or Serrano country near the sea in California to Walapai
territory in upland Arizona. This includes something of a swerve first
north and then south to take in Avikwame and the upper part of Mohave
valley.
Biologically, the Jaguar has his regular northern limits in Sinaloa or
southern Sonora. Occasional strays however roamed into Arizona and
perhaps southern California. He was certainly a traditional animal to
most Mohave: very few of them could ever have seen one, even in the
old days; but he was not imaginary. There is some confusion as to
which name designates which feline, or whether one of them may not in
fact be Wolf. I have translated Numeta as Jaguar, and Hatekulye as
Mountain Lion (Puma), because Nume is Wildcat, and the Jaguar is
spotted dark on yellow like that smaller stub-tailed animal.[1]
Hatekulye was said by the Mohave to refer to a long tail, a feature
which many Indian tribes note about Mountain Lion. Etymologically, the
word seems to mean "long dog"; which would of course be Wolf. In that
event, nume-ta, the "real cat" or "large cat," would presumably be the
commoner Mountain Lion, and Jaguar would not enter into the present
story. The wobbliness of identification by the Mohave and other Yumans
is increased by the fact that two other large carnivores besides the
jaguar, the wolf and the bear, are not regular habitants of their
lands.
[1] These are the vocabulary data: In all Yuman dialects, nume',
or some obvious dialectic variant, means wildcat. In Walapai (F.
Kniffen et al., Walapai Ethnography, AAA-M 42, 1935) nyimi-ta
was given as mountain lion (p. 64), and hat-^{a}kwil^{a} as
wolf, described by some, however, as blunt-nosed like a cat, and
perhaps confused with straggling jaguars; it also was a rare
animal. In Yuma, I was given xat-akūly for mountain lion
(łaqol-k meaning long), to which īmtša xantš-ekuł was said to be
the Cocopa equivalent. I secured no words for jaguar or wolf. In
Maricopa my forms ran: name', wildcat; nam·e-t or nam·et
xat-ekyulyk, mountain lion; xat-^{e}kwily(k) or xat-^{e}kuly,
wolf. Spier, Comparative Vocabularies (Univ. N. Mex. Publ.
Anthr. no. 2, 1946, pp. 104 seq.) gives these Maricopa forms:
name-s, wildcat; name-t, cougar (viz., mountain lion); name-t
hatagult, "cougar wolf"; name-t katca-s, jaguar; xatagult,
xatagul^{ya}, wolf, ? from xatagwilg, "bigger than a dog" (xat).
In the same place he gives the Havasupai forms as nyim'i,
wildcat; nyimita, mountain lion; hatagwila, wolf; no form for
jaguar. The weight of this comparative evidence would seem to
make the heroes of the present Mohave tale Mountain Lion and
Wolf rather than Jaguar and Mountain Lion. But what is perhaps
surest is that two of these three carnivores did not occur
regularly in Mohave territory, and Mountain Lion was probably
uncommon, so that a degree of uncertainty prevailed as to the
identity of all of them.
The amount of discursive detail in this version is moderate. The
number of songs in the series is around 90. No two statements by the
narrator, as to how many he sang at each point, agree altogether; as
is customary for the Mohave. But the subjoined table shows that a
scheme is adhered to. The narrator probably intends singing about 4,
or 7, or 1, or 3, or 8 songs on a given episode, and perhaps
approximately remembers sets of words for each song in a group. The
blanks in the first column of the table presumably mean only that the
teller had not yet got started in mentioning songs. If we supply the
omissions from the next column, the addition of these 23 makes the
total 90, as compared with totals of 90 and 88 in other listings.
VARIATIONS IN SONG SCHEME
_Number of Songs Mentioned by Narrator_
========================+==========+==========+==========
| In | In | In
Place in Story | Original | Review | Attempt
|Dictation | at | to
| |Conclusion| Reconcile
------------------------+----------+----------+----------
"Dark-mountain" in | | |
the west | .. | 4 | 4
Hoalye-kesokyave | .. | 8 | 10
Avi-kitšekilye | .. | 4 | 3
Ava-sa'ore | .. | 4 | 4
"Sandbar-willow-water" | .. | 3 | 3
New York Mountains | 3 | 3 | 3
Avi-kwinyamaθave | 3 | 3 | 3
Avikwame (Dead Mt.) | 3, 13, 1 | 3 | 14
Iδô-kuva'īre | 7 | 7 | 9
Qara'erva | 1 | 1 | 1
Selye'aya-kumitše | 3 | 3 | 3
Kamahnulya | 2 | 2 | 2
"Raven's house" | .. | 3 | 3
"Excrement-sand" | 1 | 4 | 1
"White-water" | 2, 9 | 9 | 9
Avi-kwaθanye | 1 | 1 | 1
Walapai Mountains | 7 | 11 | 7
Hoalye-ketekururve | 5 | 9 | 7
"Land-blood-have," | | |
near Hackberry* | 6 | 8 | 1
| -- | -- | --
Total | 67 | 90 | 88
------------------------+----------+----------+----------
* Sung by the cats--the rest by deer.
WORDS OF SONGS
The following are the words of some songs:
1. The very first song of the cycle, where the Deer are made at
Dark-mountain far in the west (par. 5). Deer sings: inyahavek tinyamk
kanavek, west it-is-night, tell.
2. First song at Hoalye-ketekururve (par. 25), next to the last step
in the journey, and the last at which the Deer sing. Hatekulye
kanavek, Mountain-Lion tell-(of).
3. Same place, second song. Ipa amaimiyak kanavek, Arrow from-above
tell.
4. Same, third song. Ipui-moṭe' ipa'-maimiate ninyupakem
hirra'a-môṭ(e), I-shall-not-die-arrow-from-above fall-on-me
it-does-not-pain.
5. Same, fourth song, last by the Deer. Ito-nye-kyam ipa'-maimiak,
Belly-in-shoot arrow-from-above.
6. Apparently Jaguar sings, at Land-blood-have: Himekeseik
kwora'āk-oêve, Track-them old-man (= brother).
7. The same: Intomaku-moṭe itavere(m) viewêmeθ(a), Do-not-desist
chasing continue.
8. The same: Hatapui viuêmhe kworaāk-oêve, Kill-them continue brother.
9. The final song of the cycle, still by Jaguar: Kwora'āk-oêvitš
atšwoδavek himaṭva hikwīve tšaθwilve kosmave, Brother divide-it flesh
horns hide sinew.
THE DEER STORY
1. When Matavilya died and Mastamho took his place[2] he gave
supernatural power to Jaguar and Mountain Lion,[3] two brothers. No
one saw them while they dug a hole into the ground and disappeared.
They traveled underground toward the wind.[4] At Hatekulye-naka,[5]
above Avi-kwatulye,[6] they emerged. Here they raised themselves out
of the ground as far as their breasts, turning their heads to look
around. Seeing only mountains all about, they said: "This is no place
for us," and went underneath again.
[2] At Ha'avulypo.
[3] Numeta and Hatekulye.
[4] North, mathak.
[5] "Mountain lion's naka."
[6] "Lizard-mountain," still at Eldorado Canyon on or near the
Colorado, as is Ha'avulypo also.
2. They continued westward, below the surface, until they came to
Avi-kwin-yehore, Avi-ku-tinyam, Kwilykikipa, and Kwamalyukikwa.[7]
There Jaguar proceeded to make Deer. He put his hand into the ground:
but the earth was not good. Then he thrust his hand farther down until
he found good clay. Then, just as little girls have clay dolls, he
made a Deer, with legs and neck and horns and all parts. He made a Doe
also. So the two Deer came into existence.
[7] West of San Bernardino, California; that is, in Serrano or
Gabrielino territory. The second name means "dark mountain."
3. Now it was dark where Jaguar and Mountain Lion were.[8] Then they
said: "There are flint arrow-points.[9] Some persons will dream of
those. Then they will make them; they will make bows also." Then they
measured a bow. They measured it a fathom in length. It was too long.
So they measured it somewhat shorter, and said: "That is good: it will
be right for the Walapai and Yavapai." They prepared sinews and
feathers for the arrows. When they had finished everything else, they
said: "Rattlesnake, scorpion, black-widow spider,[10] and
tarantula[11] are the poisons to use. We will tell the Walapai and the
Yavapai about them. They will take these four poisons, mix them with a
plant and with red paint. They will paint their arrow-points with that
and their bows and arrows too. Then if they pursue game, it will not
be able to run fast."[12]
[8] Spoken of as a house, but conceived merely as a round space
of darkness.
[9] Avi-rrove sohêna.
[10] Haltoṭa, a poisonous spider, probably the black widow.
[11] Kwatšmunyo-'ipe in Mohave, "but they called it hanekasave."
[12] The Mohave say that the Walapai who have dreamed of Jaguar
and Mountain Lion follow this practice. If anyone but the owner
takes hold of the bow, his hand swells. They also tie to their
moccasins a small piece of deerskin containing this poison.
Among the Mohave, on the other hand, certain men, who wish to be
lucky in gambling, tie to their hair a small concealed bag of
rattlesnake teeth and paint. This is, however, likely to render
them cripples.
4. Now Jaguar and Mountain Lion took the two Deer that they had made
and said: "They are finished. We will make wind blow on their bodies
and cause it to rain over them. The rain will wash out all bad smell
and make their flesh good." They made it blow and rain on the Deer and
said: "Now that we have made wind and rain, all their bad smell has
disappeared. Their meat is good. And now they will be able to go
anywhere and never become cold."
5. The two Deer stood looking westward. Then they faced south, east,
and north.[13] They wanted to know the land, and where the sun and the
night came from. Now they knew that, for the male was wise. He said:
"There is the sun. It is going down." But the female said: "No, the
wind and the clouds are taking it away. And there is no place for it
to go to; perhaps there are only mountains, perhaps only sea there.
Perhaps it will go behind the mountains, or descend into the fog at
the sea." Then they both looked toward the east, and the male said:
"Here darkness is coming. When it comes it will bring the stars and
the moon in the sky. Then we will know which way to go east." (4
songs.)
[13] Anti-clockwise circuit, starting in the west.
6. Now the two deer started eastward. They came to
Hoalye-keδsokyave.[14] Jaguar and Mountain Lion had given them good
eyes: They could see well. Now they said: "Everything is finished, but
it is dark. Do you hear a noise? When it is dark there is always a
noise. Every one sleeps except two, Tinyam-hwarehware[15] and
Tonaθaqwataye.[16] They are the ones that make noise at night." (8
songs.)
[14] Said to be now a railroad station in the San Bernardino
mountains, perhaps Summit. Hoalye are yellow pines.
[15] An insect living in willows, and with wings like willow
leaves. Its night call is hwar hwar hwar. It exercises the
Mohave imagination.
[16] Unidentified.
7. From there they started again, going eastward. When they came to
Avi-kitšekilyke,[17] they said: "This is what they have given us: I
know it: it is grass that they gave us." They did not eat it yet. They
were to eat it soon. (4 songs.)
[17] North or west of Calico, which is not far from Barstow. The
route is eastward through the Mohave desert.
8. From there, starting on again, they said: "Now the night is over.
It is nearly daylight." They went eastward until they came to
Ava-sa'ore.[18] There they stood and rested and looked about. They
looked up at the sky and saw the star called Hamuse-anyam-kuv'a, the
morning star.[19] They said: "I see it. It is there. All will be able
to see it. The sun is in the middle of the sky, and we are at the
middle of the earth." (4 songs.)
[18] A mountain east or northeast of Calico. An old Indian
trail, from before the coming of the whites, used to pass there.
[19] "Star-day-walk." The sun follows it, and it is visible in
the middle of the sky at midday.
9. Starting from there, they went east until they came to
Aha-kwi-'ihore.[20] There they saw much grass, but said nothing about
it; they did not eat it yet. They only said: "We are at
Aha-kwi-'ihore: from here we will go on again." (3 songs.)
[20] "Sandbar willow water"; a mountain north of Blake. Soldiers
were once stationed there on account of the Chemehuevi or
Paiute.
10. Not far to the north from where they were are the New York
Mountains. They said: "That is the place Jaguar and Mountain Lion told
us of: they called it Avi-waθa; it is not far away." They went there
and stood and looked. "It is a large (range of) mountain; everything
grows on it, and is green and looks good. It is the greatest mountain.
It has a great name and is the first of all." (3 songs.)
11. They started again, going eastward. Coming to Hukθara-tš-huerve,[21]
they did not stop there, but went on eastward. At Apurui-kutokopa[21a]
and Avi-kwinya'ora they also did not stop, but went on. When they came
to Avi-kwi-nyamaθave,[22] they stopped. (3 songs.)
[21], [21a] Hukθara is coyote; apurui, hapurui, a pottery water
jar.
[22] "Yellow-mountains," in the middle of a valley, north of
Ibex and visible from it.
12. Starting again, they saw Avikwame.[23] They went northward to
Avi-tšierqe,[24] without resting there, and continued to
Kwanakwetšeθkyeve.[25] There they said: "I know this place: it is
Kwanakwetšeθkyeve: now Avikwame is near. Grass and everything grows
about that mountain; it smells good; the wind from the north brings
the odor." Starting again, when they saw the grass, they jumped about
as deer do, and ran here and there; but they did not yet eat. They
came to Aha-mavara, to Amaṭ-qatšeqatše, and to Kwatulye-ha,[26] but
went by without stopping. They came to Amaṭ-mehwave-'auve and to
Hatom-kwiθike.[27] Then they said: "This is the place: this is
Avikwame; now we are at Avikwame. This is what they gave us, this
grass here. Everything growing about is what they told us of." (3
songs.)
[23] Dead or Newberry mountain, in the southern tip of Nevada;
with Ha'avulypo, the Mohave myth focus.
[24] "Excrement-mountain"; in a valley.
[25] In a valley southwest of Newberry mountain, probably Piute
valley.
[26] Kwa'tulye is a species of lizard. Ha, aha, is water, but
"lizard-water," "lizard-spring," should be Aha-kwatulye or
Kwatulye-nye-'aha. The word perhaps means "water-lizard."
[27] A whitish region south of Avikwame, near the Colorado.
13. Then, standing there at Avikwame, they said: "Now I will tell
about my body: of my legs, my tail, my ears, my horns, and everything.
Sometimes my horns change: they itch, and I rub them against rocks or
trees. Then I grow new horns and the old ones are seen lying cast off
on the ground. Sometimes I rub myself and my hair comes off." Now
there were bushes there, a huelye bush to the east and a tanyika bush
to the west. The male Deer said: "I will stick my horns into these
bushes and pry them off. I will leave them here at Avikwame and go
elsewhere." (14 songs.)
14. Then they started southward. They came to δokupita-toδompove and
Ihore-kutšupetpa,[28] but did not stop. When they came to
Avi-kutaparve,[29] still farther south, they wanted to cross the
river. It was sundown. They crossed to the eastern side at
Iδô-kuva'īre, Kwilyeθki, and Avi-tutara.[30] As they crossed, the
female came out of the river onto the bank with difficulty. She said,
"I nearly drowned." But the male said: "Of course; I am a man, but I
too almost drowned." (7 songs.)
[28] Lekupi'ta or δokupita, owls; toδompove, looking at one
another; ihore, sandbar willow. Both places are on the Nevada
side of the river, above Fort Mohave. The Deer are traveling
south now.
[29] Or Avi-kwataparve; on the west bank of the river, south of
the last mentioned.
[30] The three names are considered as applying to one place,
not far above Fort Mohave across the river from it. Iδô means
the black willow.
15. They said: "Now we know where we will go. We know where the
darkness comes from. It comes from the east." They went southeastward,
past Yamasave-kwohave and Aqwer-tunyive, to Qara'erva. There they
stopped and said: "We call this place Qara'erva;[31] everyone will
always call it so." (1 song.)
[31] A frequently mentioned place.
16. Starting again, they went southward. At Selye'aya-kumitše[32] they
met Muulye, Antelopes. They saw ten or twelve of them. There were only
the two Deer. The Antelope stood at a distance and then ran off. The
Deer said: "I know you. You cannot climb up rough places. You can
only ascend to the mesa by following up a wash. You belong to
Muulye-mat'are.[33] That is the place that has been given you by
Jaguar and Mountain Lion." Now the Antelope went westward to
Porepore-kutšeim, while the Deer stood at Selye'aya-kumitše. (3
songs.)
[32] One mile inland (east) from Fort Mohave. Selye'aya is sand.
[33] "Antelope-playground." A place on the mesa. See note 36
below.
17. They went on southward. When they came to Kamahnulya, they stood,
looked east, and saw two Wildcats[34] coming down the wash at that
place. "Someone is coming," they said. They saw them carrying rats and
rabbits in their belts and fastened to a string around their
shoulders. When they came near, they saw that they had their tails
drawn between their legs because they were afraid. The Deer said: "I
know you: you are Wildcats; you hunt. When you kill rats and rabbits,
you eat them raw; you do not cook them." Then the Wildcats went into
the brush without looking at them. (2 songs.)
[34] Nume.
18. Starting again, the Deer came to Aqaq-nyiva.[35] (3 songs.)
[35] "Raven's-house?" The place is on a line between the town of
Needles and the sharp peak called Boundary Cone or Avi-veskwi.
19. Going on, they reached Nyiketate and Selye'aya-itšierqe and
Muulye-mat'are.[36] They said: "This is the place: this is where
Antelope belongs. That is what I spoke of." (4 songs.)
[36] Approximately one place. It is east of Fort Mohave, north
of Avi-veskwi, and marked by an exposure of whitish sand at the
foot of the mesa. Selye'aya-itšierqe is "excrement-sand," but a
different place from that previously so named (note 24).
20. As they stood there, they saw Avi-veskwi.[37] They said: "We will
not go there, but look at it from here." It was midnight now. (1
song.)
[37] Boundary Cone, an unusually sharp peak between the Black
Mountain range and Mohave valley.
21. They went on until they came near Ikumnau-tšumi,
Aha-kwi-nyamasave, and Hatoδike.[38] They stood at the foot of the
mesa below these places. Jaguar and Mountain Lion caused them to stop
there. The male said: "This night is bad; it is not an ordinary
night." But the female said: "Yes, it is usual; you will see. It is
dark, and the stars are bright, it is cold, and there is a little
breeze. Can you not feel it? It is cool. It is just an ordinary
night." (2 songs.)
[38] All three are visible from the town of Needles.
Ikumnau-tšumi is at the brink of the plateau that forms the
eastern edge of the valley. Aha-kwi-nyamasave ("white water") is
a large whitish depression--one of the four places at which Frog
emerged after causing Matavilya's death. Hatoδike is a blackish
ridge below this.
22. Then they folded their legs and laid their jaws on the gravel.
Jaguar saw that; he saw them lying there, though he was far in the
west. Now the male heard what (Jaguar) said and got up. He said: "It
is a bad night; I have dreamed bad. I think I shall not live long."
Waking the female, he said: "I will tell you what I have dreamed: I
dreamed bad. I know what will happen. There are four mountains which
Numeta and Hatekulye named. They are large mountains, Avi-waθa,
Avi-kwame, Amaṭ-ke-hoalye, and Avi-melyehweke.[39] They said: 'When
you have come to Avi-waθa and to Avi-kwame and have crossed the river,
you will come to a bad place.' Now we have arrived here and I have had
bad dreams. We will go on, and on another mountain I shall die. It is
night and the stars are flying. They told us about that too. They
said: 'The stars will fly[40] and will seem to fall and strike your
body.' That is how it is: I shall die; I shall be a ghost."[41] (9
songs.)
[39] Respectively, New York Mountains, Dead (Newberry) Mountain,
Walapai Mountains in Arizona, and (Avi-melyehweke) a large peak
or range in Arizona. This last is said to be not far from the
river, east of Parker; but several ranges converge toward the
river here, pointing westward and northwestward.
[40] A meteor, Hamuse-'amai-kuvuhwere, is an omen of the death
of a prominent man.
[41] Nyaveδi.
23. They went on from there until they came to Maθkweha and
Tšamokwilye-kwiδauve, but passed by. They came to Aha-kuvilye[42] and
followed up the wash from there until they reached the mesa. Then they
said: "I will give this place a name: I call it Avi-kwaθanye.[43] All
will know that." (1 song.)[44]
[42] There is a spring at Aha-kuvilye, "stinking water."
[43] Kwaθanye is a small lizard. Avi-kwaθanye appears from the
town of Needles as a blue peak the summit of which is visible
over the plateau that bounds Mohave valley on the east.
[44] The words of the song are: iny-amaṭ Avi-kwaθanye vi'emk,
My-land Lizard-mountain go.
From there they went east. They went down into the valley and crossed
to the mountains called Ahta-katarapa[45] and Hanemo-nye-ha.[46] There
they stood; then went upward, onto the mesa. There they saw tracks.
The male said: "I know these tracks. They are the tracks of Yellow
Jaguar and Yellow Mountain Lion.[47] It is they. They traveled here by
the wind and by the clouds. We cannot see them, but they are above us
in the canyon or perhaps in the mountain and they can see us." The
female said: "You see tracks, but they are not new. They have been
there a long time; they were here when the earth was made." The male
said: "No, they have been here two days or three days.[48] You will
see." The female said again: "No, they have been here a long time,
ever since the ground was still moist and they walked on it." But the
male said: "No, you will find out. They have seen us; they are
watching us now." It was on the Walapai (Hualpai) Mountains[49] that
they saw the tracks and stood and talked like this. (11 songs.)
[45] Ahta is cane.
[46] Hanemo'nye-ha is "duck's water." There is a small stream
here.
[47] Yellow is -yamaθave. These are said to be their full names.
[48] It is only two nights since the deer were made.
[49] Amaṭ-ke-hoalye, "yellow pine country." See note 39.
24. They went on eastward. Jaguar and Mountain Lion had indeed gone
before them; the Deer followed. They did not see Jaguar and Mountain
Lion, but they saw what they had done, pulling out trees by the roots
and breaking large rocks, so that the Deer could follow them. The male
said: "See, they have pulled up trees, and broken stones and rolled
them about." Then after a time they saw no more tracks: Jaguar and
Mountain Lion had made the wind blow so that the footprints were
effaced. The Deer went on nevertheless. When Jaguar and Mountain Lion
came to Hoalye-ketekururve,[50] Jaguar, the older brother, sat down on
the west side, Mountain Lion, the younger, on the east. The two Deer
did not know they were sitting here, and came on until they were
between them. Jaguar, in taking up his bow and arrow, made a slight
noise, the Deer heard it, and he did not shoot. But Mountain Lion shot
and hit the male. Deer said: "They have failed: they did not shoot me
in the right place; they shot up into the sky, and the arrow only
dropped on me. I was struck, but I have no pain." Then both Deer ran
off eastward. (9 songs.)
[50] East of the Walapai mountains. This would be in or near the
Big Sandy Wash, still in Walapai country, but not far from
Yavapai territory.
25. Jaguar and Mountain Lion still sat there. Jaguar said: "Go:
follow; kill them." So Mountain Lion went, and his older brother
followed. They did not see the tracks of the Deer, but they followed
them. They went up on the mesa. Jaguar said to his younger brother:
"Keep on: follow; do not stop. I want to teach the people here, the
Walapai and Yavapai, to hunt. Some among them will dream and then they
will be deer hunters. Do not stop. We could kill them here, but I do
not want that. We will wait until we come to Amaṭ-ahwaṭ-kutšinakwe and
Amaṭ-ahwat-kw-iδau;[51] then we will kill them. When we kill them
there, there will be blood on the rocks: I want to name those places
for that."
[51] Amaṭa, land, place; ahwaṭa, blood, red; iδau, have, hold.
26. Then when they came to Amaṭ-ahwaṭ-kutšinakwe and
Amaṭ-axwaṭ-kw-iδau, the male Deer had fallen down dead. Now Mountain
Lion stood to the east of him, Jaguar on the west. Jaguar said: "You
know why I have pursued him. I want only the skin and horns and sinew.
You can have the meat: I do not want it." But Mountain Lion said: "No,
we will divide it. I want the right horn. I too want some of the
things you want." Then Jaguar said: "I wanted to divide it, but you
did not want to. Well, you can have it all." And he went off to the
side and stood there.[52] So he had none of it. He went away to the
north, to Amaṭ-ke-hoalye, the Walapai Mountains. But Mountain Lion
stood by the Deer and tore his body open with his claws. He put his
hand inside and took out the heart. Then he went north, holding that.
He did not take meat or skin or sinew or horns. He left them and he
went to Ahta-kwatmenve.[53] (8 songs by Jaguar and Mountain Lion.)
[52] An older-younger brother quarrel typical of the myths,
usually with the younger having his way.
[53] East of Kingman, below Hackberry, in the heart of Walapai
territory.
The female Deer went on to Avi-melyehweke.[54]
[54] One of the four mountains mentioned above, which Deer said
were named to him by Jaguar and Mountain Lion (note 39).
VI. COYOTE
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE RECORDING
This group of narratives was told chiefly by an old woman of the clan
which names its daughters Māha. Her more specific name was
Mah-tšitnyumêve. She was a doctor for eyes that had been made sore
from being struck by mesquite leaves or by a rushlike plant called
hatelypo. In curing, she breathed against the palm of her hand held
near her mouth, then laid the hand on the eye. She got this power from
Coyote in her dream, as told in this story. She had a son called
Lahoka, who was also a doctor, for the sickness caused by contact with
foreign tribes. He was alleged to have also the power to make people
sick, and at the time I knew his mother, he had gone from Needles to
live at the reservation in Parker because of this accusation of
witchcraft.
I secured the Coyote material from Mah-tšitnyumêve near Needles on
March 22, 1903, as the result of an endeavor to learn more about the
place of Coyote in Mohave mythology. Coyote is always mentioned in
connection with the death of Matavilya, as in the beginning of the
Mastamho myth (VII, 1-6), but beyond that there were mostly allusions
only. This old lady said she had dreamed a Coyote story which she was
ready to tell. It proved that she told it very badly. She did not
pursue a consistent thread and she left contradictions which remained
unresolved after questioning. The fault is undoubtedly hers, not my
interpreter's, for Jack Jones was by this time well trained. She said
nothing of songs belonging to the story, and I failed to enter in my
notes whether I asked her.
I do not know how far the narrator's deficiencies were the result of
her being a woman. She was my only Mohave woman informant on matters
of myth and religion. I suspect she was unaccustomed to narrating and
therefore inexpert at it. A number of people were listening in, some
probably members of the household and others casual visitors. Several
of these, including a man older than the narrator and one younger,
protested when she concluded her main narrative (given as "A" below).
They declared that she had told not a Coyote narrative, but a
(private) dream, and that it was not the sort of thing to tell. Their
disapproval seemed fairly strong. After this controversy had subsided,
she resumed and told the briefer section given as "B," but this again
evoked protest from an old man who was listening, who said it was not
a genuine Coyote story, but a dream about killing people. All the
Mohave listeners seemed to take for granted that Mah-tšitnyumêve had
dreamed what she alleged. Their objection was to her dreaming the
wrong sort of thing.
Possibly these protests had their effect, or the old lady ran out of
what she had dreamed, because she then dropped into telling
conventional Coyote tale episodes such as are told children--"C, D,
E." These in turn stimulated the interpreter into telling several that
he had heard--"F, G, H."
THE TALES
_A: Dreamed_
Coyote was a person like these Indians. There were two Coyote
brothers,[1] little boys.[2] They started going from this country.[3]
They had bows and arrows, and as they went along they shot at a mark,
betting their arrows. They would throw up a bundle of arrowweeds to
shoot at. The older won all the younger brother's arrows. Then he took
one, wiped it on his anus, shot it up into a cottonwood tree, and
said: "Will you go get it for yourself?" The little boy said: "No,"
and cried because the arrow was soiled. So he was going to leave that
place and, crying, went north to θawêve, a place on Cottonwood Island.
Now I was following him.[4] When he got to θawêve, I did not see him
any longer, so I came back to this country here. Then I dreamed of him
again at Avi-hamoka, near Tehachapi.
[1] She later denied that they were brothers. See footnote 6.
[2] The heroes as little boys is a favorite Mohave motif.
[3] "This country," namely, Mohave valley, were the informant's
words. Most informants specify a named place.
[4] This is pattern again: the narrator is present at the
myth-happening through having dreamed it.
The older Coyote was called θarra-veyo,[5] the younger Patša-karrawa.
They were not brothers.[6]
[5] A name recorded elsewhere for Coyote. The first two
syllables occur in the most common name, Huk-θara.
[6] Contradicting the former statement. See footnote 1.