Various tropical fruits are produced in abundance, but are not sent to market on account of the cost of transportation. Stockraising is carried on to a limited extent for the home and Bolivian markets. The province is traversed by a government railway (the Central Northern) running northward from Tucuman to the Bolivian frontier, with a branch from General Güemes westward to the city of Salta (q.v.), the provincial capital. The principal towns are Oran (1904, 3000) on a small tributary (the Zenta) of the Bermejo, in the northern part of the province, formerly an important depot in the Bolivian trade, and nearly destroyed by earthquakes in 1871 and 1873; Rosario de Lerma (pop. 1904, 2500), 30 m. N.W. of Salta in the great Lerma valley; and Rosario de la Frontera (pop. 1904, 1200) near the Tucuman frontier, celebrated for its hot mineral baths and gambling establishment.
Salta was at one time a part of the great Inca empire, which extended southward into Tucuman and Rioja. It was overrun by adventurers after the Spanish conquest. The first Spanish settlement within its borders was made by Hernando de Lerma in 1582. Salta was at first governed from Tucuman, but in 1776 was made capital of the northern intendencia, which included Catamarca, Jujuy and Tucuman. After the War of Independence there was a new division and Salta was given its present boundaries with the exception of the disputed territory on the Chilean frontier, now the territory of Los Andes.
SALTA, a city of Argentina, capital of a province of the same name, and see of a bishopric, on a small tributary (the Arias) of the Pasage, or Juramento, 976 m. by rail N.N.W. of Buenos Aires. Pop. (1904, estimated) 18,000. Salta is built on an open plain 3560 ft. above the sea, nearly enclosed with mountains. The climate is warm and changeable, malarial in summer. The city is laid out regularly, with broad, paved streets and several parks. Some of the more important public buildings face on the plaza mayor. There are no manufactures of importance. Salta was once largely interested in the Bolivian trade, and is still a chief distributing centre for the settlements of the Andean plateau. Near the city is the battlefield where General Belgrano won the first victory from the Spanish forces (1812) in the War of Independence. There is a large mestizo element in the population, and the Spanish element still retains many of the characteristics of its colonial ancestors. In Salta Spanish is still spoken with the long-drawn intonations and melodious “ll” of southern Spain.
Salta was founded in 1582 by Governor Abreu under the title of San Clemente de Nueva Sevilla, but the site was changed two years later and the new settlement was called San Felipe de Lerma. In the 17th century the name Salta came into vogue.
SALTA (Italian for “Jump!”), a table-game for two introduced at the end of the 19th century, founded on the more ancient game of Halma. It is played on a board containing 100 squares, coloured alternately black and white. Each player has a set of 15 pieces, one set being green, the other pink. These are placed upon the black squares of the first three rows nearest the player, and are classified in these rows as stars, moons and suns. The pawns move forward one square at a time, except when a pawn is situated in front of a hostile piece with an unoccupied space on the further side, in which case the hostile pawn must be jumped, as at draughts, but without removing the jumped pawn from the board. The object of the game is to get one’s pieces on the exact squares corresponding to their own on the enemy’s side, the stars in the star-line, the moons in the moon-line, &c. Salta tournaments have taken place in which chess masters of repute participated.
See Salta, by Schubert (Leipzig, 1900).
SALTASH, a municipal borough in the Bodmin parliamentary division of Cornwall, England, 5 m. N.W. of Plymouth, on the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 3357. It is beautifully situated on the wooded shore of the Tamar estuary, on the lower part of which lies the great port and naval station of Plymouth. Local communications are maintained by river steamers. At Saltash the Royal Albert bridge (1857–1859) carries the railway across the estuary. It was built by Isambard Brunel at a cost of £230,000, and is remarkable for its great height. The church of St Nicholas and St Faith has an early Norman tower, and part of the fabric is considered to date from before the Conquest; but there was much alteration in the Decorated and Perpendicular periods. The church of St Stephen, outside. the town, retains its ornate Norman font. The fisheries for which Saltash was famous have suffered from the chemicals brought down by the Tamar; but there is a considerable seafaring population, and the town is a recruiting ground for the Royal Navy. The borough is under a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 194 acres.
The Sunday market established by the count of Mortain at his castle of Trematon, which ruined the bishop of Exeter’s market at St Germans, was probably held at Saltash a short distance from the castle. Saltash (Esse, 1297; Ash, 1302; Assheburgh, 1392) belonged to the manor of Trematon and the latter at the time of the Domesday Survey was held by Reginald de Vailetort of the count. Reginald’s descendant and namesake granted a charter (undated) to Saltash about 1190. It confirms to his free burgesses of Esse the liberties enjoyed by them under his ancestors, viz.: burgage tenure, exemption from all jurisdiction save the “hundred court of the said town,” suit of court limited to three times a year, a reeve of their own election, pasturage in his demesne lands on certain terms, a limited control of trade and shipping, and a fair in the middle of the town. This charter was confirmed in the fifth year of Richard II. Roger de Valletort, the last male heir of the family, gave the honour of Trematon and with it the borough of Saltash to Richard, king of the Romans and earl of Cornwall. Thenceforth, in spite of attempts to set aside the grant, the earls and subsequently the dukes of Cornwall were the lords of Saltash. It was probably to this relation that the burgesses owed the privilege of parliamentary representation, conferred by Edward VI. In 1584 Queen Elizabeth granted a charter of incorporation to Saltash. This was superseded by another in 1683 under which the governing body was to consist of a mayor and six aldermen. In 1774, the corporation being in danger of extinction, burgesses were added, but it was not until 1886 that the ratepayers acquired the right of electing representatives to the council, the right up to that time having been exercised by the members of the corporation. The parliamentary franchise was enjoyed by the mayor, aldermen and the holders of burgage tenements. In 1814 they numbered 120. In 1832 Saltash was deprived of its two members. The count of Mortain’s Sunday market had given place in 1337 to one on Saturday and this is still held. Queen Elizabeth’s charter provided for one on Tuesday also, but this has disappeared. A fair on the feast of St Faith yielded 6s. 8d. in 1337. This is no longer held, but fairs at Candlemas and St James, of ancient but uncertain origin, remain. Saltash was sufficiently considerable as a port in the 16th century to furnish a frigate at the town’s expense against the Armada. This probably represents the zenith of its prosperity.
SALTBURN BY THE SEA, a seaside resort in the Cleveland parliamentary division of the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, 21 m. E. of Middlesbrough by a branch of the North Eastern railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2578. A firm sandy beach extends westward to Redcar and the mouth of the Tees, while eastward towards Whitby the cliffs become very fine, Boulby Cliff (666 ft.) being the highest sea cliff in England. Several fishing villages occur along this coast, of which none is more picturesque than Staithes, lying in a steep gully in the cliff. There are brine baths supplied from wells near Middlesbrough, a pier, gardens and promenades. Inland the county is hilly and picturesque, though in part defaced by the Cleveland iron mines.
SALT-CELLAR, a vessel containing salt, placed upon the table at meals. The word is a combination of “salt” and “saler,” assimilated in the 16th and 17th centuries to “cellar” (Lat. cellarium, a storehouse). “Saler” is from the Fr. (Mod. salière), Lat. salarium, that which belongs to salt, cf. “salary.” Salt cellar is, therefore, a tautological expression. There are two types of salts, the large ornamental salt which during the medieval ages and later was one of the most important pieces of household plate, and the smaller “salts,” actually used and placed near the plates or trenchers of the guests at table; they were hence styled “trencher salts.” The great salts, below which the inferior guests sat, were, in the earliest form which survives, shaped like an hour-glass and have a cover. New College, Oxford, possesses a magnificent specimen, dated 1493. Later salts take a square or cylindrical shape. The Elizabethan salt, kept with the regalia in the Tower of London, has a cover with numerous figures. The London Livery Companies possess many salts of a still later pattern, rather low in height and without a
