Having been brought from so great a distance, and thought sufficiently remarkable to be worthy of special record, it is reasonable to suppose that almug-trees possessed properties not common in the timber usually met with in Palestine, whether in appearance, in colour, or in odour. Several Indian trees have been enumerated as likely to have been the almug. Of these, bukkum, or sapan wood (Cesalpinia sappan), much used in dyeing, belongs to the same genus as Brazil wood of South America, but its nearest locality is the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal. The teak, highly valued from its indestructible nature, great size, and strength, might be more reasonably adduced, because more easily procurable, from the greater accessibility of the Malabar coast; but being a coarse-grained wood, it might not be so well suited for musical instruments. If one of the pine tribe be required, none is more deserving of selection than the deodar (deo, god; dal; wood : Pinus cfrodara), as it grows to a large size, yields excellent timber, which is close-grained and fragrant; but the tree is found only in very in accessible situations.
Others have been in favour of sandal-wood, but have confounded with the true and far-famed kind what is called red sandal-wood, the product of Pterocalus santalinus, as well as of Adenanthem pavonina. But there are two kinds of fragrant sandal-wood, the yellow and the white, both men tioned in old works on Materia Medics.. Both these are thought by some to be the produce of the same tree, the younger and outer layers of wood forming the white, while the centre layers become coloured, and form the yellow.
Recent investigations confirm the opinion of Gercias, that the yellow and white sandal-woods are the produce of different trees, both of which, however, belong to the same genus, Santalum. M. Gaudichaud has described the species, which he has named S. Freycinetianum, as that yielding the yellow sandal-wood so much valued by the Chinese, and obtained by them from the Feejee, Marquesas, and Molucca Islands.
But the most common sandal-wood is that which is best known and most highly esteemed in India. It is produced by the Santahtm album, a native of the mountainous parts of the coast of Malabar, where large quantities are cut for export to China, to different parts of India, and to the Persian and Arabian gulfs. The outer parts of this tree are white and without odour; the parts near the root are most fragrant, especially of such trees as grow in hilly situations and stony ground. The trees vary in diameter from 9 inches to a foot, and are about 25 or 30 feet in height, but the stems soon begin to branch. This wood is white, fine grained, and agreeably fragrant, and is much employed for making rosaries, fans, elegant boxes and cabinets. The Chinese use it also as incense both in their temples and private houses, and burn long slender candles formed by covering the ends of sticks with its sawdust mixed with rice-paste.
As sandal-wood has been famed in the East from very early times, it is more likely than any other to have attracted the notice of, and been desired by, more northern nations. We do not, however, trace it by its present or any similar name at a very early period in the writings of Greek authors ; it may, however, have been confounded with agila wood, or agallochum, which like it is a fragrant wood and used as incense. Sandal-wood is men tioned in early Sanscrit works, and also in those of the, Arabs. Actuarius is the earliest Greek author that expressly notices it, but he does so as if it had been familiarly known. In the Periplus of Arrian it is mentioned as one of the articles of commerce obtainable at Omana, in Gedrosia, by the name ZwydXtva, which Dr. Vincent remarks may easily have been corrupted from avacalpa. As it was produced on the Malabar coast, it could easily be obtained by the merchants who conveyed the cinnamon of Ceylon and other Indian products to the Mediterranean. That sandal-wood has often been employed in buildings is evident from J. Barb, Viaggio alla Persia :' 'La porta della camera ora de sandali entarsiata con file d' oro,' etc. The Hindoo Temple of Somnat, in Guzerat, which was plundered and destroyed by Mahomed of Ghizni, had gates made of sandal-wood. These were carried off by the conqueror, and afterwards formed the gates of his tomb, whence, after Soo years, they were taken by the British conquerors of Ghizni, and brought back to India in 1842.
That sandal-wood, therefore, might have attained celebrity, even in very early ages, is not at all un likely; that it should have attracted the notice of Plicenician merchants visiting the west coast of India is highly prObable ; and also that they should have thought it worthy of being taken as a part of their cargo on their return from Ophir. That it is well calculated for musical instruments, the author is happy to adduce the opinion of Professor Wheatstone, who says, 'I know no reason why sandal-wood should not have been employed in ancient days for constructing musical instruments. It is not so employed at present, because there are many much cheaper woods which present a far handsomer appearance. Musical instruments would appear very unfinished to modern taste unless varnished or French-polished, and it would be worse than useless to treat fragrant woods in this way. Formerly perhaps it might have been more the fashion to delight the senses of smell and hearing simultaneously than it is with us, in which case odoriferous woods would be preferred for things so much handled as musical instruments are.'—J. F. R.