Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-30
SALT USED AS MONEY.

things and prevents corruption, so JUS
tice preserves whatever it animates. and
without it all is corrupted. He, therefore,
directed that a salt cellar should be plac-
ed upon the table at every meal, i'll order
to remind men of this enblematic virtue
of salt, says the Boston Herald.
Cosmas, the Egyptian g~eosrapher, stat
ed that salt currency was in use in Africa
in the sixth century: and Marco Polo
wrote that salt was a comnon medium OF
exchange among certain Asiatic people
in the thirteenth century. In Thibet
pieces of salt shaped in a mold and
weighing about half a pound each served
as small exchange, so such pieces having
a value equal to about So.
There is an old proverb that many
| packs of salt must be eaten together to
bring friendship and perfection
SOLD SLAVES FOR SALT.
SO highly did the Tharcians of old prize
salt that they bartered slaves in exchange
for 1T.
Felix Dubois, in his '~"Timbuctoo the
Mysterious" comments on the variety OF
salt in the interior of the Soudan, and
says it is the most valuable commodity of
that region. the true gold of the Soudan-
eSe.
In speaking of the lack of piquancy or
pointedress in a dull sermon or address,
the French people say, There was no
salt in that DISCOURSE"
The covenant of salt is the most sacred
possible among the Jews.
Contracts between eastern tribes are
confirmed by salt. and the most solemn
pledges ratified by it.
The idea that the splitting of salt pro-
duces evil consequences is supposed to
have originated in the tradition that Jul
das overturned a salt cellar at the Pas
/ chal supper. as portrayed in Leonardo GA
Niaci's painting.
In early times any one having the mis-
fortune to spill salt was supposed to in
cur the anger of all good spirits and to
be rendered susceptible to the m~alevolent
influences of demons.
1t was customary among the Greeks to
present salt to the gods as a thank
Offering at the beginning of every meal.
There is a Norwegian belief that if one
spills salt he will shed as many tears as
may suffice to dissolve the quantity of
salt he has lost.
TO AVERT ILL LUCK.
In one part of Pennsylvania, in order
to avert i'll luck after salt has been spill
ed, one should not only toss a pinch of the
spilled salt over the left shoulder, but
should crawl under the table and come
out on the opposite side.
The following lines are found in a Brit
ish publication of the last century:
We'el tell you the reason
Why the splitting of Salt
Is esteemed such a Fault,
Because it doth ev'rything season.
The antiques did opine
Twas of Friendship a sign.
So served it to guests in decorum,
And though Love decayed
When the negligent maid
Let the salt cellar tumble before them.
The tossing of spilled particles Of salt
over ones left shoulder is not deemed
sufficient in New England to avert the
severance of friendships ties: the spilled
salt must also be thrown upon the stove.
There is in Russia a superstitious pre-
judice against helping ones neighbor to
salt at table on account of the liability
to quarrels thereby incurred.
In Italy helping a friend to salt at table
was formerly thought to be an indica-
ton of undue familiarity, and when salt
was offered by one gentleman to the wife
of another, it was deemed sufficient cause
for jealousy and quarrel;ng.
When a native of Abyssinia desires to
pay a delicate attention to a friend or
guest he PRODUCES a piece of rock salt and
graciously permits the latter to lick it
with his tongue.
The priest sometimes places a little salt
in the child's mouth at baptism in Sicily.
thereby imparting wisdom, it is believed.
Hence the popular local saying in regard
to a person who is dull of understanding
that the priest has put but little salt III
his mouth.
A common amulet among the Neapoli-
tan poor is a bit of rock salt suspended
from the neck.
IT'S USE AS A CHARM.
The peasants of the HartZ mountain re-
gion in Germany believe that three grains
of salt in a milk pot will keep witches
away from the milk.
Salt was in high repute in olden times
in Scotland as a charm, and the salt box
was the first chattel to be removed to a
, new dwelling. In 1879, when Robert
Burns was about to occupy a new mouse
at Ellisland. he was escorted thitheI
!, along the banks Of the river NTH by a
, procession of relatives, and among them
was borne a bow of salt resting on the
: family bible.
A mother seeks to protect her daughter
from evil glances in Bohemia by placing
a little bread and salt in her pocket, and
when a young girl goes out for a walk
the mother sprinkles salt on the GROUND
l behind her, so that she may not lose hel
l way.
Scotch fishermen have a custom of salt
ing their nets for luck" and they also
l sometimes throw a little salt into the
: sea ito blind the fairies"
E According to the mythical lore of Fin.
7 land, Ukko the god of the sky, struck fire
E in the heavens, a spark from which de
scended into the ocean and became salt.
The earliest mention of salt in the bible
J is in reference to the destruction O.
= Sodom and Gomorrah.
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