Kazwini[138] relates that “when the water [of the wells of Ilabistan] failed, a feast was held at the source, with music and dancing, to induce it to flow again.” One thinks of the “Well of Fair Dances” at Eleusis; though not offering a parallel to what has just been said, it is in so far an analogy in that it was a spring at which sacred dancing took place, in this case by women in honour of Demeter[139]. We have mention of sacred dancing, again, in another connexion, viz. around the Golden Calf. The passage is Exod. xxxii. 5, 6, 19: And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast (_ḥag_) to Jahwe. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to dance[140].... And it came to pass, as soon as he [_i.e._ Moses] came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing.... This definite mention of the sacred dance here justifies the assumption that it was also performed in honour of a similar idol set up in other sanctuaries, such as those in Dan and Bethel (1 Kings xii. 28, 29, 2 Kings x. 29; cp. Hos. x. 5), in Samaria (Hos. viii. 5, 6), and possibly in Gilgal (Hos. xii. 11 [12], Am. v. 4, 5)[141]. Again, there are several passages in which the encirclement of the altar is mentioned; these merit a little attention. In 1 Sam. xvi. 11, where there is, however, a little uncertainty about the reading, there is some justification in translating the Hebrew thus: “And Samuel said ... we will not go round, _i.e._ the altar, till he come.” The Revised Version follows the Septuagint and the Vulgate in rendering: “We will not sit down, _i.e._ to the feast, till he come”; but this use of the word is otherwise unknown in the Old Testament[142]. Taking it in its natural sense the word would here refer to the ceremonial encircling of the altar which is mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament, and was a recognized part of the ritual in offering sacrifices among other peoples. In Ps. xxvi. 6 it is said: “I will wash mine hands in innocency and will go round thy altar, Jahwe”; this points clearly to the ritual encircling of the altar, and the incidental mention of it without further comment seems to imply that it formed part of the ordinary ritual[143]. A procession on a larger scale may well be in the mind of the writer of Ps. xlviii. 13 [12 in R.V.]: “Encompass ye Zion, and go round about her”; the context points to the reference being to some act of ritual worship; and that it is a literal, and not a figurative, encirclement that is meant is clear both from the use of _sābab_, as well as of _nāqaph_, which refers often to the surrounding of cities.