244 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to the importance of salt in the financial system of the Mongol em- 

 perors. The substance stood as well for costliness, as, " He paid a 

 salt price for it." 



Another ancient practice connected with salt is alluded to in the 

 Bible, Ezekiel, xvi, 4: " Thou wast not salted at all." 



This refers to the custom of salting the skin of newborn babes. 

 The operation was supposed to make the epidermis diy, tight, and 

 firm. Galen speaks of the practice. It may also have been em- 

 blematic of purity and incorruption. 



Superstitions concerning salt are widely scattered over the world. 

 "When the Chinese observe the last festival of the year, literally 

 called " rounding the year," a portion of the ceremony consists in 

 building a bonfire of pine wood before the ancestral tablets of the 

 family. Upon the flames salt is thrown, and the crackling which 

 it occasions is regarded as an omen of good luck for the following 

 year.* 



The mountain people of North Carolina and West Virginia are 

 said to put salt in their shoes in order to keep off the witches. Ban- 

 croft related that one of the aboriginal tribes of ISTorth America 

 refrained from eating salt in the belief that it turned the hair 

 white. 



Several curious customs, founded upon the ancient religious 

 significance of salt, survived until a recent date. Such was the 

 Eton Montem, or procession of the " Eton " boys to Salt Hill. Cer- 

 tain boys in fancy costumes went first, in order to levy contributions 

 on the passers-by. These donations were devoted to the mainte- 

 nance of their captain at college, and all who gave received a pinch 

 of salt in return. Another well-known college custom, that of salt- 

 ing the freshmen before they were entitled to join in games with 

 the others, may have had something to do with the naming of the 

 new students; or it may, on the other hand, have been instituted as 

 a boyish joke because of the name already given. 



Though in some portions of America salt was introduced by 

 Europeans, yet there were many parts where the mineral was ac- 

 cessible, and a number of native tribes besides the Aztecs held it 

 in high veneration. One of the professors who recently visited the 

 Zuiii villages on behalf of the Smithsonian tells of a curious custom 

 of the people which, I believe, has not been published hitherto. 

 The Zuiiis, when organizing an expedition to go after salt, fit out a 

 war party and take provisions greatly in excess of their wants for 

 the time during which they will be gone. Since there is no object 

 to be served by a war party in times of peace, it has been conjectured 



* Social Life of the Chinese. Justus Doolittle. 



