Posted by Erol Abit on April 28, 1999 at 06:11:18:
In Reply to: Re: Time delay posted by Steve Price on April 27, 1999 at 19:47:09:
: Dear Erol,
: Your suggestion may very well be moving toward an answer to the salt bag question, but in a way that might surprise you.
: First, salt bags are believed to have been used to carry rock salt for the sheep, not for the nomad's dinner table, and if this belief is correct then whether they enjoyed salt with their meals is not relevant.
: But someone else has written to me suggesting that the ened for salt by sheep depends on the altitude of the pastures, and that this differed between NW Persian and Turkmen tribes. So your explanation may be sort of correct, although the use of salt would be related to the eneds of hte sheep, not to the tastes of the shepherds. It is, at least, as plausible as any proposal about the salt bags that I've heard so far.
: Best regards,
: Steve Price
Dear Steve,
As far as I know and remember, the salt is given to goats rather than sheeps. If I am correct, it seems that Persians raised goats more than sheeps while Turkmen preferred sheeps to goats. Both of them used sheep wool but the kind of animals in their herds were different. Therefore, Persians might have to wove salt bags more. Is there one out there who is a farmer? He/she could tell use which animals eat salt more.
By the way, I saw some Yoruks bags made of goat hairs and one antique shop here has such a bag.
Regards,
Erol