ALGUM (CI:2)6N), or ALMUG TREES (innN).
These are, no doubt, two forms of the same word, as they occur in passages referring to the same events, and differ only in the transposition of letters. In i Kings x. iI, it is said, And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug-trees and precious stones. And the king made of the annug trees pillars for the house of the Lord, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for singers.' In the parallel passages of 2 Chron. ix. so, 11, the word algum is substituted for almug, and it is added, There were none such seen before in the land of Judah.' As no similar name has yet been discovered which is applicable to any kind of wood from the countries whence the almug-trees are supposed to have been brought, various con jectures have been formed respecting them. His necessary first to settle whence these trees were brought. To us there appears no doubt that Ophir was to the southward of the Red Sea, and was most probably in some part of India (Pictorial Bible, ii. 349-366). The products brought from thence, such as gold, precious stones, ivory, apes, and peacocks, were all procurable only from that country. Even tin, obtained at a later period from Tartessus, was probably first procured from an earlier Tarshish, as it is abundant in Tennaserim, the Malayan peninsula, the island of Banca, etc. Its uses were well known to the Indians, who re ceived it also in exchange when brought to them by the Red Sea, as it no doubt was, at the time when the Periplus of the Erythrman Sea was written.
Various trees have been attempted to be iden tified with the almug. These it is unnecessary to enumerate at length, as only a few of them seem deserving of attention. The Greek translator of the book of kings explains the Hebrew word by clareVoira, unhewn wood ;' but in both the places in Chronicles it is rendered ;?.."157ta reoKwa, pine-wood.' This is also the interpretation of the old Latin version in 2 Chron. ii. S ; but in the two other passages that version gives it the acceptation of thyine-wood' (Lig-na thyina). The thyine wood which is mentioned in Rev. xviii. 12, is no
doubt the Lignum thyinum, which was also called citrinum, citron-wood. It was highly valued by the Romans, and employed by them for the doors of their temples and the images of their gods. This wood was obtained from the north of Africa, where the tree producing it has recently been re. discovered. If algum-wood was brought from the north coast of Africa, there certainly does not appear any tree more worthy to be considered as such than Thuya articulata, or Callitris quadrivah-cs. [THYINE WOOD.] From the passage of 2 Chron.
ii. Send me also cedar-trees, fir-trees, and algnm-trees out of Lebanon,' it has been inferred that this might be one of the pine tribe procurable in that mountain : but in the parallel passage in Kings v. 8, only timber of cedar and timber of fir are mentioned. On this Roscnmiiller observes, ' that the addition of almug' in the book of Chronicles appears to have been the interpolation of a transcriber' (Bibl. Bot. p. 245). If the almug had been a tree of Lebanon, we should have a difficulty in understanding how, after the time of Solomon, there came no such almug-trees nor were such seen unto this day' (t Kings x. Is).
We feel satisfied, however, that almug-trees were brought from southern regions by the Red Sea ; and it could not have been more difficult to convey them from thence to the Mediterranean than it must have been to transport timber from Joppa to Jerusalem. If we consider the great deficiency of timber on the coasts both of Arabia and of Egypt —a deficiency which, from the general dryness of the soil and climate, must have been experienced in remote ages, as well as at the present time—we should expect that, where we have notices of so much shipping, there must early have been estab lished a trade in timber. Forskal particularly mentions the importation of timber-woods from India into Arabia. Of the kinds enumerated, it has been shewn that saj, abnoos, and shishum are teak, ebony, and sissoo (Essay on Ilindoo Medicine, p. 128). Forskal also mentions the teak as im ported into Egypt : Carina navis fundatur Ligno ex • e India allato,' p. lvi.