336 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



the man from whom we have received food ; which is signified by 

 the bread and salt in this ceremony.' 



We ought to notice the readiness of the Baron's domestics, in 

 proof that they, knowing the usages of their country, well under- 

 stood what was about to take place. Also, that this covenant is 

 usually punctually observed ; and where it is not so, that it has a 

 restraining influence on the party who has made it ; and his non- 

 observance of it disgraces him. 



M r. Hartner has well illustrated the phrase, ' We were salted with 

 the salt of the palace' (Ezra iv. J4), and the reader will be pleased 

 with his remarks. * It is sufficient to put an end to all conjecture, 

 to recite the words of a modern Persian monarch, whose court 

 Chard in attended some time about business. Rising in a wrath 

 against an officer who attempted to deceive him, he drew his sabre, 

 fell upon him, und hewed him in pieces, at the feet of the Grand 

 Visir, who was standing, and whose favor the poor wretch courted 

 by this deception. And looking fixedly on him, and on the other 

 great lords that stood on each side of him, he said, with a tone of 

 indignation, * I have then such ungrateful servants and traitors as 

 these to eat my salt!' 'Look on this sword; it shall cut oft' all 

 these perfidious heads.'" It is clear that this expression, 'eating 

 this prince's salt,' is equivalent to receiving a maintenance from 

 him. 



Parkhurst says, 1 am well informed that it is a common expres- 

 sion of the natives in the East Indies, 'I eat such an one's salt ;* 

 meaning, lam fed by him. Tamerlane, in his institutes, mention- 

 ing one Shaw Behaun, who had quitted his service, joined the en- 

 emy, and fought against him : 'At length,' says he, ' my salt which 

 he, had eaten overwhelmed him with remorse : he again threw him- 

 self on my mercy, and humbled himself before me.' 



Although salt in small quantities may contribute to the commin- 

 uting and fertilizing some kinds of stubborn soil, yet, according to 

 the observation of Pliny, all places where salt is found are barren, 

 and produce nothing.' 



The -effect of salt, where it abounds, on vegetation, is described 

 by burning (Deut. xxix. 22). ' The whole land thereof is brimstone 

 and salt of burning (or bwning salt) ; it is not sown, nor bears, 

 nor any herb grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, &e. 

 Volney, speaking of the borders of the Asphaltie Lake, or Dead 

 Sea, says, ' The true cause of the absence of vegetables and animals, 

 is the acrid saltness of its waters, which is infinitely greater than 

 that of the sea. The land surrounding the lake, being equally 

 .impregnated with that saltness, refuses to produce plants ; the air 

 itself, which is by evaporation loaded with it, and which moreover, 

 receives vapors of sulphur and bitumen, cannot suit vegetation ; 

 whence that dead appearance which reigns around the lake. So a 

 salt land ' (Jer. xvii. 6,) is the same as ' the parched places in the 

 wilderness,' and is descriptive of barrenness ; as ' saltness ' also is, 

 Job xxxix. 6; Psalm cvii. 34; Cornp. Ezek. xlvii. 11 j eplu 

 ii. 9. 



