Chapter VIII: Section I: is moderately long and describes the journey home, but now (2)

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."