Alright, first things first. In the section about Marco Polo, it mentions "salt cakes." That sounds terrible. I'm usually pretty excited about anything with the word "cake" in it, but a salt cake is something i'd never like to try. It says it was used as currency, though, so maybe they didn't eat it. Most people today don't eat their money.
Anyway: Italy. I may be going there in like 8 or so months. Mom still won't give me a definite yes or no. It seems like the Italians were pretty innovative in their salt harvesting techniques. They thought of that nifty multi-pond system, which was much more effictient than previous methods. It also saved alot of work; very little manpower was needed until the final stage where people scraped the salt off the bottom of the pond. The system that the Italian government devised to regulate salt prices was also pretty smart. They were able to manipulate it in a way to get a large profit, and at the same time keep the people happy.
The whole Marco Polo section confused me a good bit. I never even knew he went to China...and it doesnt mention his travels anywhere else at all.
Thats it for this entry...not too much went down in this chapter.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
i also thought the multi pond system was cool. you should go intothe salt business with matt and i, it'll be a good time.
Way too short. Don't cop out, keep writing.
Mr. Farrell
Post a Comment