The dance of the Dakotahs round the flesh-pot was performed purely in honour of the god; it partakes in some sense of an act of faith, for the believers persuade themselves that their god will not permit his worshippers to be scalded by the boiling water; whether their faith ever reached the height of neutralizing sensation is not recorded. The Bear Dance of the Timagani Indians and of the Sioux North American Indians must have a point of attachment somewhere with the Ἀρκτεία danced in honour of Artemis. The dance of the Kayans, as well as the Bagobos, around sacrificial victims appears to serve a consecrating purpose. One of the original objects of the dance round the sacred tree is seen from the practice among the Gallas to be to make the crops grow; the tree-spirit who looks after these things is propitiated by the dance in his honour. It is difficult to resist the surmise that at one time the Israelites did the same thing. Tree-spirits, it is true, have not necessarily anything to do with the crops, and we may be certain that in many cases there was no connexion between sacred trees and the growth of the crops among the Israelites; but they were an agricultural people, and the belief in the influence of tree-spirits upon the growth of the crops is so widespread that the probability of its existence among the Israelites must be reckoned with. CHAPTER VII THE ECSTATIC DANCE I An important department of our subject is that of the type of dance performed by the early prophets of Israel. We say the “early” prophets because the one account which the Old Testament gives us of this kind of dance refers to it among the early prophets. There is, however, no reason for supposing—rather the contrary[174]—that this type of the sacred dance was confined to the _early_ prophets of Israel. Its purpose was connected with an aspiration deeply seated in human nature; its performance has been very widespread among peoples of antiquity; and it is found to exist at the present day among uncultured races. So that the presumption is that it did not cease abruptly among the Israelites, but continued, at any rate, up to the time of the Exile. This type of dance is the outcome of strong religious emotion which necessitates some bodily expression. It may be paralleled with the exuberance of physical health which demands vigorous exercise. While it begins with moderated movements, held in check by rhythmical restraint, yet as the nervous excitement of the performer becomes increasingly intense and the physical exertion more exacting, so does the dance get wilder and wilder until, as the result of the abandonment of all self-control, the dancer ultimately loses consciousness. Its contagious character has often been remarked upon.