Chief, that's right. Not too many people know that interesting little piece of history. Roman soldiers received a monthly ration of salt, which seemed to be important to them than their regular pay -- legions and garrisons maintained a kind of bank or credit union, and records show that soldiers usually drew only a small part of their monthly pay and left the rest on the books in the legion's "bank". I guess when you're stationed at some isolated fort on Hadrian's Wall in the wilderness of northern Britannia, there's not much need for cash. But that monthly salt ration sure made the food more palatable.