Another illustration of this type of sacred dance is given by Nilus. In speaking of the Arabs of the Sinaitic Peninsula, he says that they did not worship any god or image of a god, but sacrificed to the morning star at its rising. Then he goes on to describe how they took for their sacrifice a white camel which they forced into a kneeling posture and “went circling round it in a circuitous fashion,” the reference being clearly to some form of processional dance, which is not, however, further described; but he mentions singing which went on at the same time, a very usual accompaniment to the sacred dance. When the third circuit had been made, and while the singing was still going on, the leader in the procession slaughtered the camel[148]. According to Jeremias this ritual perambulation (_ṭawâf_) round the altar or a sacrificial victim among the idolatrous Semites may be explained as having been a symbolic representation of the movement of the heavenly bodies, in which case, as he maintains, the ritual dance would be proved to be a product of the ancient oriental world-concept[149]. But the rite is susceptible of a different explanation as we have seen[150]. Another instructive example among the Semites, in which it is evident that the perambulation is not a symbolic representation of the movement of the heavenly bodies, is that which takes place at the festival of the Pyre at Heliopolis. Lucian describes this as follows: The greatest of the festivals that they celebrate is that held in the opening of the spring; some call this the Pyre, others the Lamp. On this occasion the sacrifice is performed in this way. They cut down tall trees and set them up in the court; then they bring goats and sheep and cattle and hang them living to the trees; they add to these birds and garments, and gold and silver work. After all is finished, they carry the gods around the trees and set fire under; in a moment all is in a blaze. To this solemn rite a great multitude flocks from Syria and all the regions around. Each brings his own god and the statues which each has of his own gods[151]. This encircling procession of the gods will be referred to again when we review the instances of this type of sacred dance which have been gathered.