Salt 5

Here are 4, 3, 2, and 1.  Ooops . . here’s another 1, featuring a June K.

Winter’s not over, and there has already been SOME call for salt on roads and walkways, but mostly it’s been a low-salt season around the sixth boro.

The other morning I thought I’d see bulker Irene rotated by Ellen McAllister, but it turns out

Ellen was lying in wait for the container vessel appearing

around the bend.

The salt trade is ancient.  Since I’m thinking about gallivants a lot these days, I recall hearing about salt caravans out of the Sahara to ports in North Africa for trans-shipment to Europe.  Even if I didn’t travel on a camel, seeing salt slabs in traditional boats on the Niger River . . . would suffice.  Back in 1977 I was finished with a job in Cameroon and had the option of adventuring across the Sahara (hitchhiking) through another desert city called Agadez, and opted out.  I still regret that choice sometimes.  Two friends did it.   I thought of this again recently while reading Vuvuzela Diaries.

What traveled north for centuries was salt as well as gold;  what traveled south to Timbuktu were European “luxury” goods, including books.   Here’s another BBC video on the scholarly libraries of Timbuktu.

If mild and dry weather prevails for the rest of this winter, Mt. Salt will remain here along Richmond Terrace.  The small vessel off Irene‘s stern here belongs to the NYC DEP.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.