THE LANDS OF THE NEPHITES--MULEK AND LEHI--ZARAHEMLA AND
NEPHI--THE WILDERNESS--THE LAND OF FIRST INHERITANCE--THE JOURNEYS
NORTHWARD--THE WATERS OF MORMON--LEHI-NEPHI.
To the ancient Nephites the whole of North America was known as the
land of Mulek, and South America as the land of Lehi; or, to use the
exact language of the Book of Mormon, the land south was called Lehi;
and the land north was called Mulek.
The reason why these names were so given was because the Lord brought
Mulek into the land north, and Lehi into the land south, when he led
them from Judea to this greater land of promise.
From the days of the first Mosiah to the era of Christ's advent, South
America was divided into two grand divisions. These were the land of
Zarahemla and the land of Nephi. During this period, except in times
of war, the Lamanites occupied the land of Nephi, and the Nephites
inhabited the land of Zarahemla.
That these two lands occupied the whole of the southern continent is
shown by the statement of the sacred writer: Thus the land of Nephi,
and the land of Zarahemla, were nearly surrounded by water; there
being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land
southward. The width of this narrow neck of land which connected the
two continents is in one place said to have been the distance of a day
and a half's journey for a Nephite. In another place it is called a
day's journey. Perhaps the places spoken of are not identical, but one
may have been slightly to the north of the other along the line of the
isthmus.
Both the lands of Nephi and Zarahemla were sub-divided, for
governmental purposes, into smaller lands, state or districts. Among
the Nephites, these lands, in the days of the republic, were ruled by
a local chief judge, subject to the chief judge of the whole nation;
and among the Lamanites by kings, who were tributary to the head king,
whose seat of government was at the city of Lehi-Nephi or Nephi.
The land of Nephi covered a much larger area of country than did the
land of Zarahemla. The two countries were separated by the wilderness
which extended entirely across the continent from the shores of the
Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. The northern edge of this wilderness ran
in a line almost due east and west, and passed near the head of the
river Sidon. The Sidon is generally understood to be the river in these
days called the Magdalena.
All north of this belt of wilderness was considered the land of
Zarahemla; all south of it was included in the land of Nephi. We are
nowhere told its exact breadth, and can only judge thereof from casual
references in the narrative of the Book of Mormon.
The river Sidon flowed through the centre of the Nephite civilization
of the days of the republic. After the convulsions that attended the
crucifixion of the Holy Messiah, the physical and political geography
of the continent was greatly changed, and the new conditions are very
vaguely defined by the inspired historians.
On the western bank of the river Sidon was built the city of Zarahemla.
From the time of its first occupancy by the Nephites, to the date of
its destruction by fire at the crucifixion, it was the capital or chief
city of the nation, the centre of its commercial activities, and the
seat of government. It was the largest and oldest city within their
borders, having been founded by the people of Zarahemla before the
exodus of the Nephites, under the first Mosiah, from the land of Nephi.
When the Nephites, by reason of increasing numbers, the exigencies of
war, or for other causes founded new cities the cities so built were
generally called after the name of the leader of the colony or of some
illustrious citizen, and the land immediately surrounding, contiguous
or tributary to the new city was called by the same name. As an example
we will take the city or land of Ammonihah, regarding which it is
written: Now it was the custom of the people of Nephi to call their
lands and their cities, and their villages, yea, even all their small
villages, after the name of him who first possessed them; and thus it
was with the land of Ammonihah.
Some of these lands appear to have been relatively small, more
resembling a county, or possibly a township, than any other division at
present prevailing in this country. Such we suppose to have been the
lands of Helam and Morianton. Others, such as the lands of Bountiful
and Desolation, embraced wide, extended tracts of country.
The exact place where Lehi and his little colony first landed on this
continent is not stated in the Book of Mormon: but it is generally
believed among the Latter-day Saints to have been on the coast of Chili
in thirty degrees south latitude. In fact, the Prophet Joseph Smith so
stated.
We do not think it possible, without divine revelation, to determine
with accuracy the identical spot where Lehi and his colony landed. We
believe that the coast line of that region has entirely changed since
those days. Even if we do not take into consideration the overwhelming
convulsions that took place at the crucifixion of our Lord, which
changed the entire face of nature, there remains the general elevation
or subsistence of the land which is continually taking place the world
over. Some coasts are rising, some are falling. The land in South
America, on its western or Pacific shores, has long been rising, some
think for centuries.
If this be so the rise of an inch a year would entirely change the
configuration of the sea shore, and give this generation shallows
and dry land, where but a few centuries ago there were deep waters.
But so far as the results growing out of the terrible earthquakes
that occurred at the death of the Savior are concerned, we can form
no conclusions, for they were variable. In some regions the waters
usurped the place of the land, in others the land encroached upon the
waters. Which way it happened near the place where Lehi landed we have
no record, and consequently can say nothing. For all we know a huge
mountain may now cover the spot, or it may be hidden beneath the blue
waters of the Pacific, scores of miles away from any present landing
place.
In the region that Lehi landed there he also died. Soon after his
death, Nephi, and those of the colony who wished to serve the Lord,
departed for another country. They did so by direct command of heaven.
The reason for this command was the murderous hatred shown by Laman and
Lemuel towards Nephi and his friends. These vicious men determined to
kill Nephi, that he might not be a king and a ruler over them. Their
hearts were wicked, they loved sin and were resolved that they would
not be governed by their virtuous and heaven-favored brother.
Nephi and his company journeyed in the wilderness for many days. By the
expression "the wilderness," we understand the inspired writer to mean
the uncultivated and uninhabited portion of the land. This word appears
to be frequently used in after years, with this signification. At
other times it is applied to the desert and uninhabitable regions, the
tropical forests, and jungles infested with wild beasts. The journey
of the Nephites was northward, as is shown by their later history; but
Nephi, in his very brief account of this migration, says nothing with
regard to the direction in which they traveled.
At the end of many days a land was found which was deemed suitable for
settlement. There the company pitched their tents, and commenced the
tillage of the soil. In honor of their leader, it was called the land
of Nephi; or to use the modest language of Nephi, My people would that
we should call the name of the place Nephi, wherefore we did call it
Nephi.
No doubt the choice of location was made by divine inspiration. It was
a highly-favored land, rich in mineral and vegetable productions, and
yielded abundant crops to the labors of the husbandman.
In this happy country the Nephites dwelt, prospered and increased
until they again moved northward. Perhaps not once nor twice they
migrated, but several times; for we hold it to be inconsistent with
the story of the record and with good judgment to believe that in
their first journey they traveled as far north as they were found
four hundred years afterwards, when they again took up their line of
march, and finally settled in the land of Zarahemla. In the first
place there was no necessity for Nephi and his people taking such
a lengthy, tedious and hazardous journey; in the second place, in
their weak condition, it was nigh unto an impossibility. To have
taken a journey of a few hundred miles would have placed them out
of the reach of the Lamanites; there was no need for them to travel
thousands. Again, in a few years the Lamanites had followed and come
up to them; it is altogether inconsistent to think that that people,
with its racial characteristics, would in so short a time have
accomplished so marvelous a triumph as to follow, hunt up and attack
their late brethren if the latter had placed all the distance from
Chili to Ecuador between them and their pursuers. When we consider the
difficulties of travel through the trackless wilderness, the obstacles
interposed by nature, the lack of all roads or other guides to indicate
where the Nephites had gone, it seems out of the question to imagine
that in twenty years or so, the shiftless, unenterprising Lamanites
had accomplished such a feat. To the contrary, we believe that Nephi
and those with him traveled until they considered themselves safe,
then settled down in a spot which they deemed desirable. By and by the
Lamanites came upon them; the Nephites defended themselves as long as
they could, and when they could do so no longer they again moved to the
northward. Their early history was one of frequent wars; and as the
Lord used the Lamanites as thorns in their sides when they turned from
him, we judge for this reason, and that they were found so far north in
the days of Amaleki and Mosiah, that the savage descendants of Laman
had frequently defeated them and driven them farther and farther away
from the land of their first possession.
The inquiry will naturally arise, as a result of these suggestions:
In what portion of the South American continent lay the home
of the Nephites in the days of Mosiah? This cannot be answered
authoritatively. We are nowhere told its exact situation. Still, there
are many references in the Book of Mormon from which we can judge, to
some extent, of its location. Elder Orson Pratt suggests that it was
in the country we now call Ecuador. The writer entirely agrees with
Elder Pratt's suggestion. Other brethren have placed it considerably
farther south; but in our reading of the Book of Mormon we have found
no evidence to confirm their suppositions, but much to contradict them.
We believe that the lands occupied by the Nephites before they went
down into the land of Zarahemla were situated among the table lands or
high valleys of the Andes, much as Utah is located in the bosom of the
Rocky Mountains and parallel chains. For these reasons:
First:--They were lands rich in minerals, which all through the American
continents are found most abundantly in mountain regions. We may (so
far as mineral proximity is concerned) compare the country east of this
portion of the Andes--the unexplored, alluvial silvas of the Amazon--to
the great plains or prairies east of the Rocky Mountains. These silvas,
stretching from the Andes to the Atlantic, we regard as the great
wilderness south of Zarahemla so often spoken of in the annals of the
Judges.
Secondly, the climate of the torrid lowlands, almost directly under
the equator, would be intolerable for its heat, and deadly in its
humidity; while the country in the high valleys and table lands would
be excellently adapted to human life, especially (we may presume)
before the great upheavals and convulsions that marked the death of
the Redeemer. As the Nephites spread over the country they located in
regions where fevers were common, possibly in those parts rendered
unhealthy by the overflowing of the rivers, which, when they receded,
left large bodies of stagnant water covering the surface of the ground
for the greater portion of the year.
It is also probable that in their journeys the Nephites would follow
the most available route, rather than plunge into the dense, untrodden,
primeval forests of the wilderness; the home of all manner of savage
animals, venomous snakes and poisonous reptiles; where a road would
have to be cut every foot of the way through the most luxuriant and
gigantic tropical vegetation to be found on the face of the globe.
Therefore we regard its accessibility as another reason for believing
that the Nephites did not leave the great backbone of the continent to
descend into the unexplored depths of the region whose character they
aptly sum up in the one word, wilderness.
Our readers must not forget that there were two lands called by the
name of Nephi. The one was a limited district immediately surrounding
the city of Lehi-Nephi or Nephi. There Mosiah and the Nephites dwelt,
about two hundred years before Christ. The other land of Nephi occupied
the whole of the continent south of the great wilderness.
As this wilderness, though of great length east and west, was but a
narrow strip north and south, and its northern edge ran close to the
head waters of the river Sidon, it is evident that the land of Nephi
covered by far the greater portion of South America. Within its wide
boundaries was situated the original land of Nephi; as well as many
other lands called by various local names, just in the same way as
there are many States in these United States, all together forming one
great nation.
It is very obvious how there came to be these two lands of Nephi.
At first, the small district around the capital city comprised all
the territory occupied by the Nephites. As they spread out, whatever
valley, plain, etc., they reclaimed from the wilderness was considered
a part of that land; and thus, year by year, its borders grew wider and
wider, while for convenience sake or governmental purposes, the newly
built cities and the lands surrounding were called by varied names,
according to the wishes of the people, most frequently after the leader
of the out-going, colony or founder of the city. Thus we have a land of
Nephi within the land of Nephi; just as we have now-a-days Utah County
within the State of Utah; and the city of New York and the County of
New York within the state of New York. To distinguish the smaller land
of Nephi from the whole country, it is sometimes called the land of
Lehi-Nephi.
We have stated that the small land of Nephi was a very limited
district. We think this is easily proven. It was so limited in extent
that we are told king Noah built a tower near the temple so high that
he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook not only the land of
Lehi-Nephi where it was built, but also the land of Shilom and the land
of Shemlon, which last named land was possessed by the Lamanites. No
matter how high the tower, these lands must have been comparatively
small (or at any rate the land of Lehi-Nephi was) to have enabled a man
to overlook the whole three from the top of one building.
It was on the borders of this land, at the outer edge of its cultivated
grounds, in the forest (or thicket) of Mormon, that Alma used to
hide himself in the day-time, from the searches of the king, while
he ministered among the people when the shades of evening gave him
security. It was there he gathered the believers in his teachings,
baptized them in the waters of Mormon, and organized the Church of
Jesus Christ. From the waters of Mormon to the city of Zarahemla it was
twenty-one days' actual travel for an emigrant train.
Alma having been warned of the Lord that the armies of king Noah would
come upon his people, the latter gathered together their flocks, and
took of their grain and departed into the wilderness which divided the
lands of Nephi and Zarahemla. They fled eight days' journey into the
wilderness when they rested and commenced to build a city, which they
called Helam. Being afterwards compelled to leave this city, on account
of the persecutions of the Lamanites and Amulonites, they again took
their journey northward, and reached the homes of the main body of the
Nephites in Zarahemla in about thirteen days.
Here we have a people encumbered and delayed by flocks and herds,
heavily laden with grain, etc., making the journey (in two separate
stages) in twenty-one days. It is scarcely supposable that they
traveled in a direct line; mountains, rivers and swamps would render
the journey somewhat circuitous or winding. But even supposing that
they did advance in an almost direct line from point to point, it would
only make the distance between Nephi and Zarahemla 210 miles, if they
traveled ten miles a day; 315, if they traveled fifteen miles; and 420
if they journeyed twenty miles a day.
Our readers must decide for themselves which distance per day is the
most likely that a company, driving their flocks and herds before
them, would advance through an unexplored wilderness, full of natural
hindrances, and without roads, bridges, ferries and other helps to the
traveler.
Zarahemla was situated on the Sidon, certainly a considerable distance
from its head waters, as other lands and cities (such as Minon and
Manti) are mentioned as lying far above it. If we measure the distance
from such a point southward, either 200, 300, or 400 miles, all these
measurements will bring us into the country now called Ecuador.
We are of the opinion that the land of Lehi-Nephi was situated in one
of the higher valleys, or extensive plateaus of the Andes. In the first
place, admitting it was in Ecuador, it would lie almost immediately
under the equator, and the lowlands, as before suggested, would be
unbearable for an industrious population on account of the great heat;
as well as exceedingly unhealthy by reason of chills, fever, and like
complaints.
Again, the crops of which the Nephites raised most abundantly--barley
and wheat--are not those that flourish in a tropical climate, but can be
grown most advantageously in a temperate region, such as could be found
in these higher valleys.
It was also a land rich in mineral wealth, which is not probable would
have been the case if it had been situated among the wide-spreading
alluvial plains east of the Andes.
It is likewise spoken of as a hilly or mountainous country. The hill
north of the land of Shilom is frequently mentioned in the historical
narrative. For instance:
Ammon came to a hill, which is north of the land of Shilom (_Mosiah
vii. 5_).
King Limhi caused his guards to go to the hill which was north of
Shilom (_Mosiah vii. 16_).
King Noah erected a great tower on the hill north of the land of Shilom
(_Mosiah xi. 13_).
For another reason, the expression "up" is almost always used when
reference is made to persons going towards the land of Nephi. Not only
did they travel from Zarahemla up the Sidon and across the wilderness
to Nephi, but also _up_ from the land of Ishmael and other portions
of the land of Nephi to the city of Nephi and its surroundings. In
contradistinction to this, persons leaving Nephi went down to the land
of Zarahemla and to other places.
The only time in which the word down is used, when referring to persons
going towards Nephi, is when certain persons came down to the city from
off the hill mentioned above.
Some of our readers may object to the statement that the city of Nephi
and the city of Lehi-Nephi were one and the same place; and that the
land round about was sometimes called the land of Lehi-Nephi, and
sometimes the land of Nephi only. But we think that a careful perusal
of the record of Zeniff, in the Book of Mormon, will convince them of
the fact; especially if they will compare it with the last few verses
of the book of Omni. Zeniff in one place speaks of possessing, by
treaty with the Lamanites, the land of Lehi-Nephi (_Mosiah ix. 6_), and
a few verses later on (verse 14), he talks of the thirteenth year of
his reign in the land of Nephi.
If we mistake not, the name of Lehi-Nephi occurs only seven times
in the Book of Mormon, everywhere else the name Nephi is used when
referring to this land.