The idea of the overt planned taking of one's own life which we find as an institution in our western civilization, in the orient (especially Japan), in the Trobriand Islands, and in other cultures, is mutually understandable to the individuals of those cultures (although the background for the acts is different in each case). The presentation of a society where overt planned suicide is foreign to the ideas of the people and where the concept is absolutely unintelligible seems worth while as an example for the further study and understanding of the subject.

The Pomo Indians of Northern California cannot comprehend suicide as we know it.2 To them, every death and misfortune was the result of indirect or direct retaliation either from (1) the ‘supernaturals’, or (2) from some individual.3

There were many cases of individuals who would not have died when they did, had the psychological expectations been different.