89 
but which the Arabs know by the name aod hindee. 
Of this, there are two kinds ; the Indian is the produce 
of Aquilaria Agallocha, Roxb. (Royle Illustr. Him. Bot. 
Tab. 36. f. 1.) abundant in the forests of Silhet and Chit- 
tagong, and probably extending into the Burmese terri- 
tories. Calambac, or the Cochin-Chinese kind of Agallo- 
chum, is that produced by Aloexyhim Agallochum of 
Loureiro. Nothing can be more inapplicable to the 
descriptions of Lign-aloe, than any part of the genus 
Aloe, which is often referred to as yielding this fragrant 
wood. The mistake Sprengel supposes may have arisen 
from one of the Arabic names, alloivat or allieh, having 
been converted into axow. Aloes is probably derived from 
elwa, the common Hindee name for aloes (Ar. sibbur), which 
is produced by Aloe vulgaris, and other species, in Africa, 
India, and Arabia. It would be easier to contend, as has 
sometimes been done, that the Lign-aloe of the ancients is 
the Sandal-wood of India (Pers. sundul, Hind, chundun, 
Sans, chandana, Tamul, shandana). The tree Santalum 
album is a native of the Malabar coast,where the best is pro- 
duced ; and it is possible, from the fragrant nature of the 
wood, that it may have been thought a kind of Agallochum, 
or Lign-aloe; but Arab authors keep distinct its description. 
Ebony is a product of the Malabar coast, which has been 
known from the earliest times, and its name appears of eastern 
origin, as, in India it is called abnoos. It was also, and no 
doubt still is, produced in Abyssinia, though we have no 
recent botanical testimony on the subject; but both Maillet 
and Burkhardt mention it as one of the articles brought 
by the caravans into Egypt. Diospyros Ebenus yields the 
best kind in the Mauritius, perhaps, also, in Madagascar : 
but D. Ebenaster and D. melanowylon, the ebony-trees of 
the Coromandel coast, yield it in the Peninsula, of very 
good quality, as other species do in other parts of India. 
