Almug
(1 Kings 10:11, 12) = algum (2 Chr. 2:8; 9:10, 11), in the
Hebrew occurring only in the plural almuggim (indicating that
the wood was brought in planks), the name of a wood brought from
Ophir to be used in the building of the temple, and for other
purposes. Some suppose it to have been the white sandal-wood of
India, the Santalum album of botanists, a native of the
mountainous parts of the Malabar coasts. It is a fragrant wood,
and is used in China for incense in idol-worship. Others, with
some probability, think that it was the Indian red sandal-wood,
the pterocarpus santalinus, a heavy, fine-grained wood, the
Sanscrit name of which is valguka. It is found on the Coromandel
coast and in Ceylon.