ROMANCE OF SALT

Hokitika Guardian, 20 November 1928, Page 2

ROMANCE OF SALT

VARIOUS SUPERSTITIONS

VENERATION IN THE EAST

The importance of salt in history i quite inestimable, and extends tar he yontl its household uses. I here b hardly a department of life or com uierce where it- lias not left its mark For instance, some ol the earliest ain most famous roads in the world, sin-1 as the Via -Sabina in Italy, were con stmeted for the purpose of conveyin' salt from mine to market or port. 4 In first trade routes were onenod up 01 uncharted seas by maritime advoutur ers who sought their fortunes by .selling salt in foreign lands. Great cit'-'S of Ihe ancient world a few of them still standing, wer built round salt mines and hecanu centres of such powerful political am religious influence that they a fleeter the destiny of the whole ■ race. Ii China to-day the important salt in dustry that stretches along her mount on.ous coast is a vital factor in hoi national life (says a writer in tin Newcastle Weekly Chronicle.)

This importance of salt in earlietimes and among primitive people h accounted for by two causes. In the 4rst place, the cereal and vegetabb diet u,pon which thev largely subsisted made salt necessary, and in the second place the immense difficulties in procuring it made it scarce and, there fore, costly and highly esteemed. A< one time it was regarded as such r luxury that mo«i Governments levied a tax on it. which led unscriiputou 1 dealers to mi v it with o , ”ih. It wuv this craft ice that iusnired the lamilia; I'hnn-e; “The salt hath hist its sav our.’’ PAY OF ROMAN SOLDIERS. Another interesting proul ot salt’* former value is the historical fact tlmf part of every Roman soldier's pav was an allowance of sr'f. In later imnerial days, however, this solarium —from which our word “salary ’ is derived—was an allowance ot moiic' for the purchase of salt, the task of carrying salt an bulk as part of the army stores becoming impossible when tin* foreign policy of ambitious emperors 1_ the legion far from home.

It inevitable re--* such a prized commodity should be given a place in the primitive religious and social (■/■remnuinls. and so Irom the earliest times it- is found shrouded in a symbolism as daring as it. is ingenious and diversified. The Hebrew women, for example, rubbed all new-born infants with salt to ensure their protection and preservation by supernatural powers. Their ideas about salt were the same as those of Homer, who called j t k.i;.mid of Plato, who described it as “substance dear to the gods.” Tt was to them, that is to say. nn approved and all-effectual agency for providential intervention of human affairs, and to overlook or tielittle its symbolical import was to court some fell disaster. CHASING AWAY EVIL SPIRITS. The veneration of salt spread subsequently and in a most remarkable man nor throughout the whole Eastern world. Thus, even among pagan tribes to this day. salt springs" are being saluted as gifts from the gods. On the Sahara and Libyan deserts, in North Africa, where the great caravan tracks, like the chief of the Roman Toads, were opened for the conveyance of salt, the salt springs are used for effecting supernatural cures, covenants are sealed by a simple gesticulation over their bubbling waters. and repentance is offered and protection implored on their lonely brink. And still, with the same credulity, the Arab, when he strikes his tent and 'looks toward the plain, throws salt on his smouldering camp fire so that the blue flame kindled thereby will chase all evil spirits from his long and solitary way. In 'the languages of these Fasten 1 peoples, too, are tonne! some curious phrases about sale which are inte!Ugiblo only to tho , -o who understand Hie still more curi' " customs to which they refer. Thus, to “eat tlm salt of the palace,” a common expression in ancient mooarchhs. is an allusion to to the old practice of partaking of the salt of a superior as a sign of allegiance to him. In Persia the natives speak of a ■b’-'oval person as being “untrue to salt.” Among the An’ibs. igain. it is customary when making a transaction or striking up a friendship for the parties to lick a piece of salt; hence their familiar phrase. “There is salt- between us.”

SALT AS REMEDY FOR TOOTHACHE.

Queen Elizabeth’s large salt, a

work 'of grout beauty, may .still be seen in the Tower of London, where it is exhibited along with the regalia, and there are many other specimens in several of our museums and in the possession of private collectors. hr, addition to the large salt each diner was provided wit!) a small salt lor i:so, which was known as a “trencher salt.” from being placed beside the diner’s trencher, or plate. That salt gave rise to many quaint customs and superstitions among on* ancestors is well attested by our na lioual folk lore, but tew ol these have survived the lesser credulity of'mod eni times. A dish of salt has beef carried into the lmme ol a newly-mar nod cou.ulo bolero they entered them selves, the legend being that the salt anted as a charm against any evil influence that might be lurking about. ft is said. too. that the old prar lice of throwing salt on a “dour'’ lire to .chase away (he demons in the nhimnev who k"cp it from hurtling briskly is still prevalent in some part* of the Highlands. A more general belief is that stilt will ere toothache, a. remedy that was, by the way, in universal favour among the dews ot ancient Palestine.