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77111E Hebrew terms alialim , and ohaloth , considered as forms of the same word, indicate some 
A highly odoriferous substance, as is evident from the connection in which they occur. They are 
translated Lign-Aloes (aloe-wood) and Aloes, in the Authorised version; and Biblical critics seem now 
agreed that the substance indicated is the fragrant Eagle wood of India, produced by the Aquilaria 
Agallochum, a very large tree occurring hi the forests of Silhet and Assam. It is also agreed that the 
nauseous drug, the produce of the true Aloe plants, is not intended; unless indeed it be, as suggested 
by Lady Calcott, in St. John’s account of the entombment (xix., 39), where we learn that a hundred 
pounds weight of myrrh and Aloes were wrapped with the body—Aloes being, as she states, one 
of the drugs used by the ancients for embalming, its strong sweet odour and bitterness combined 
adapting it for the purpose of keeping off destructive insects. Others, however, adopt a different 
Hew; and, in particular, Dr. Boyle, whose opinion is of the highest authority hi these matters, thinks 
that there can be little or no doubt that the odoriferous agila (the Malay name of the Agallochum of 
commerce,) is intended hi the passage of John xix., 39. When the body of our Saviour was taken 
down from the Cross, Nicodenms, we are told, brought a mixture of Myrrh and Aloes for the purpose 
of winding with the body, in the linen clothes, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. The quan¬ 
tity (100 lbs.) brought in this instance has been objected to by some writers, and Dr. Harris has 
suggested that instead of e Karov, it might originally have been SeKarov — 10 lbs. weight. It is well 
known, however, that very large quantities of spices were occasionally used at the funerals of Jews ; 
and before objecting to the quantity of this expensive wood, Dr. Boyle remarks that the disputants 
should have ascertained the proportions hi which it was mixed with the myrrh, an article sufficiently 
abundant and of moderate price. Dr. Harris has moreover objected that “ the Indian Lign-Aloes is so 
odoriferous and so agreeable, that it stands in no need of any composition to increase or moderate its 
perfume; ” but tills very excellence makes it better suited for mixing with less fragrant substances. 
Common Aloes could never have been used as a perfume. 
The word translated Aloes is usually employed in connection with the names of other fragrant 
products of the vegetable kingdom, and it is significant to notice that the same substances of Eastern 
origin are repeatedly mentioned with it. Thus : “ All thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes ( ahaloth ), 
and cassia.” (Psalm xlv., 8.) “I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, with cinnamon, and Aloes 
(alialim)” (Prov. vii., 17.) “ Spikenard and saffron : calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frank¬ 
incense; myrrh and Aloes ( ahaloth ), with all the chief spices.” (Cant, iv., 15.) Lign Aloes occurs but 
once in the English version: “As the trees of Lign Aloes ( alialim ) which the Lord hath planted; and 
as Cedar trees beside the waters.” (Xumb. xxvi, 6.) This passage is considered difficult, as the true 
reading is doubtful, some versions having ohalim (tents) instead of alialim. The words, spoken by 
Balaam, are perhaps figurative and poetical; certainly the objection taken, that “ a substance indi¬ 
genous in a country, was hi those early times unlikely to have been also an article of commerce from a 
far country” ( Penny Cyclopaedia) is of little weight, for, taking the words figuratively or literally, it 
bv no means follows that the trees were “ planted” either hi Palestine or in anv of its borders. The 
expression may with more apparent reason be taken as an admission of ignorance on the part of the 
speaker, of the locality or habitat of a tree, of which the produce (wood) was commercially known to 
him; or at least as a reference to the natural habitat of some noble tree, for we read elsewhere of 
“ the Cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted,” which expression is obviously figurative. 
Of the Aloe wood itself, the information is abundant. We must confine ourselves to a condensed 
summary of Dr. Boyle’s conclusions. Pliny and Dioscorides appear to furnish the earliest notice of 
this substance, both describing it as brought from India. Dioscorides, who calls it agallochum , is 
quoted by the Arabian writers, Serapion and Avicenna. The Latin translation of Avicenna gives 
it the names Agallochum, Xilaloe, and Lignum Aloes ; but in the Arabic edition it is treated under 
the names aghlajoon, aghalooikhi, and ‘aod, pronounced ood. The Persian works on Materia Medica 
give agallokhee as the Greek name of this substance; whilst the Hindoo name of one kind, by them 
called aod-i-hindee, is aggur. Having obtained the substance called aggur, and traced it through its 
Asiatic synonymes to the Agallochum of Dioscorides, Dr. Boyle found in the bazaars of Northern 
India three varieties of this fragrant wood. Dr. Boxburgh states that the Sanscrit name of the incense 
or Aloe wood is ugooroo, which in Hindee is called ugoor, and in Persian aod-hindee, and that there is 
little or no doubt that the real calambac or agallochum of the ancients is yielded by an immense tree, a 
native of the mountains east and south-east from Silhet, in about 24° of North latitude. Small quan¬ 
tities of agallochum, he states, sometimes reach Calcutta by sea from the eastward, but such is always 
