56 1 Samuel xvi. 13, 14, compare _id._, x. 1 and 20. The oil was poured on the king’s head (1 Samuel x. 1; 2 Kings ix. 3, 6). For the conveyance of the divine spirit by means of oil, see also Isaiah lx. 1. The kings of Egypt appear to have consecrated their vassal Syrian kings by pouring oil on their heads. See the Tell-el-Amarna letters, No. 37 (H. Winckler, _Die Thontafeln von Tell-el-Amarna_, p. 99). Some West African priests are consecrated by a similar ceremony. See below, p. 68. The natives of Buru, an East Indian island, imagine that they can keep off demons by smearing their bodies with coco-nut oil, but the oil must be prepared by young unmarried girls. See G. A. Wilken, “Bijdrage tot de kennis der Alfoeren van het eiland Boeroe,” _Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen_, xxxviii. (Batavia, 1875) p. 30; _id._, _Verspreide Geschriften_ (The Hague, 1912), i. 61. In some tribes of North-West America hunters habitually anointed their hair with decoctions of certain plants and deer’s brains before they set out to hunt. The practice was probably a charm to secure success in the hunt. See C. Hill-Tout, _The Home of the Salish and Déné_ (London, 1907), p. 72. 57 1 Samuel xxiv. 6. Messiah in Hebrew is _Mashiah_ (משיה). The English form Messiah is derived from the Aramaic through the Greek. See T. K. Cheyne, in _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, _s.v._ “Messiah,” vol. iii. 3057 _sqq._ Why hair oil should be considered a vehicle of inspiration is by no means clear. It would have been intelligible if the olive had been with the Hebrews, as it was with the Athenians, a sacred tree under the immediate protection of a deity; for then a portion of the divine essence might be thought to reside in the oil. W. Robertson Smith supposed that the unction was originally performed with the fat of a sacrificial victim, for which vegetable oil was a later substitute (_Religion of the Semites_,2 pp. 383 _sq._). On the whole subject see J. Wellhausen, “Zwei Rechtsriten bei den Hebräern,” _Archiv für Religionswissenschaft_, vii. (1904) pp. 33-39; H. Weinel, “משה und seine Derivate,” _Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft_, xviii. (1898) pp. 1-82. M14 The Hebrew kings seem to have been held responsible for drought and famine. 58 2 Samuel xxi. 1-14, with Dean Kirkpatrick’s notes on 1 and 10. _ 59 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 284 _sq._