The custom of placing a plate of salt on the body of the dead is very
general in Wales. I remember, when a child, inquiring the reason of the
practice, and being told by an old woman that it was to prevent the body
from swelling. My remark, that _any_ weight might answer the same
purpose, was met by the reply; "there's no weight so heavy as salt gets
when it is on the dead." This proves that some feeling of superstition
mingles with the custom. Has not the use of salt in baptism, amongst the
Italians &c., come allusion to the banishment of the evil spirit?