[292] Reference is made in 1 Sam. xxi. 5, 2 Sam. xi. 11 to an act of self-control which was also part of the consecration for battle; but this, which is found among many other races, had its special reason and does not come into consideration here. [293] _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_ ..., II. 145, where other examples are given. [294] _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_ ..., I. 22. [295] The possibility is not excluded that in all cases of animals being eaten in order to absorb their qualities, their sacredness may have been the real reason at one time in the history of the rite. When this reason was forgotten and its qualities became the sole reason for eating an animal, the extension of the idea in other ways would be natural. [296] _Religion of the Semites_, p. 288. [297] _GB_, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 165 f. (1911); the account is taken from S. Müller, _Reizen en Ondergoekingen in den Indischen Archipel._, II. 252 (1857). For another example see Chalmers, _op. cit._ p. 182. [298] C. G. Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, p. 298 (1910), quoted by Frazer, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 168. [299] Spencer and Gillen, _The Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 493 f. (1899). [300] De Flacourt, _Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar_, pp. 97 f. (1658), quoted by Frazer, _GB_, _The Magic Art_, I. 131 (1911). [301] _The Secret Tribal Societies of West Africa_, p. 17, quoted by Frazer, _op. cit._ I. 132. [302] Frazer, _op. cit._ I. 133 f. [303] _Uit het leven der Bevolking van Windessi_, in the “Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-Landen Volkenkunde,” XL. 157 f. (1898); _GB_, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 169 f. [304] _E.g._ in such cases as the May-pole dance, and the dances round the Midsummer fires. [305] Robertson Smith, _The Religion of the Semites_, p. 455, where references to original authorities are given. See also Stade, _Biblische Theologie des Alten Testaments_, i. 148. [306] _GB_, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 158; for further examples see pp. 161 ff., and _The Magic Art_, I. 125 ff. Conceivably the taboo on the persons left at home during the absence of the fighting men may have originally had something to do with the victory dance being performed by women alone. [307] See the present writer’s _Immortality and the Unseen World_, chaps. VIII-X. [308] _E.g._ Gen. xxiv. 49 ff., xxix. 27; Judg. xiv. 7; Isa. lxi. 10; Jer. ii. 32, vii. 34, xxv. 10; Ps. xlv. 10 ff.; Cant. iii. 6-11; cp. 3 Macc. iv. 8. In the New Testament we have more details, _e.g._ Matth. xxii. 2, xxv. 1 ff.; Lk. xii. 36; John ii. 1 ff. [309] See König, _Hebr. und Aram. Wörterbuch_, p. 505, and cp. the Sept. τῇ Σουμανείτιδι (Cod. B). [310] _Kimĕhôlath hammaḥanaim._ Cp. the Septuagint rendering: ὡς χοροὶ τῶν παρεμβολῶν.