SKINS. : 858

to this verse, in our translation, refer the expression to Saul
as an anointed kitig, “as though he had not been anointed
with oil,” but might be intended to express the total de-
struction of a warrior whose shield was exposed to the rain
and dew of the “mountains of Gilboa.” The large shields
were supported by a /eathern thong passing across the
breast :

“ Bvery buckler’s thong
Shall sweat on the toil’d bosom.”

“Cooling the wound inflicted by the shaft
Of Pandarus; for it had long endured
The chafe, and sultry pressure of the belt,

‘That bore his ample shield.”

Bow-strings were formed either of leather thongs, horse-
hair, or the sinews of oxen ; and the dott/es used for holding
liquids were also made of the skins of various animals.
Those of kids and goats are still employed ; the head being
cut off, the body is extracted, and the neck serves as the
mouth of the vessel: the skins of camels and oxen serve
the same purpose, where a larger quantity of water is re-
quired. Bottles are likewise made of prepared leather,
shaped like a powder-flask. The bottle carried by Hagar,
when wandering in the wilderness of Beersheba, was pro-
bably a kid-skin. Wine was kept, as well as water, in this

2a