LANDS OF THE NEPHITES, CONTINUED--MINON--MELEK--AMMONIHAH--
NOAH--SIDOM--AARON--LEHI--MULEK--BOUNTIFUL--THE SOUTH-WEST BORDER.
Minon is mentioned but once in the Book of Mormon. Its location is then
directly stated. It is spoken of as the land of Minon, above the land
of Zarahemla, in the course of the land of Nephi (_Alma ii. 24_). Elder
Orson Pratt, in a note to this chapter, places Minon about two days'
journey south of the city Zarahemla. This is the obvious conclusion to
be drawn from the details contained in the chapter; from these details
and the above quotation, we also judge it to have been on the western
banks of the Sidon, and in the direct road between Nephi and Zarahemla.
At this date (B. C. 91) it was inhabited by an agricultural population,
who, at the approach of the Lamanites, fled before them into the
capital city.
As the course of the river Sidon was from south to north, it is but
reasonable to conclude that when the words above and below are used,
when reference is made to places on its banks or in its neighborhood,
that above means south and below, north. This is a very common mode of
expression in such cases.
MELEK.--The boundaries of this land are very indistinctly stated by the
inspired writer of the Book of Alma, for it is in that book alone that
it is mentioned. However, two things are positively stated (chapter
_viii._), namely, that it was west of the river Sidon, and that it
extended westward as far as the narrow strip of wilderness which ran
north and south between the mountains and Pacific Ocean. We imagine
that its eastern borders touched the land of Zarahemla and from thence
it stretched out as far as the country proved habitable, as it appears
to have had a large population, judging from the account given of
Alma's ministrations (B. C. 82). That it embraced a large district of
country is proven by the fact that when Alma had finished his labors
in the city of Melek, he traveled three days' journey on the north of
the land of Melek before he came to the city of Ammonihah (_Alma viii.
6_). In later years, when it was considered unsafe for the Ammonites
to remain longer in Jershon they were removed to Melek, the proximity
of which to Zarahemla, as well as its remoteness from the lands of the
Lamanites, rendered it admirably adapted as a place of safety for that
persecuted people.
AMMONIHAH.--When Alma had made the three days' journey spoken of above,
he reached Ammonihah the country around which city was called by
the same name. From the text of the passage some conclude that Alma
traveled northward from Melek, but to us it conveys the idea that
the prophet journeyed three days westward along or near the northern
boundary of that land. We are confirmed in this opinion by the
statement made in another place regarding Ammonihah's proximity to that
portion of the wilderness which ran along the sea shore (_Alma xxii.
27_). In Alma (_xvi. 2_), it is stated: The armies of the Lamanites had
come in upon the wilderness side, unto the borders of the land, even
into the city of Ammonihah. If Ammonihah had been situated three days'
journey north of Melek, we suggest that it could not have been near
that portion of the wilderness which the Lamanites so easily reached
without discovery; for a march due north would have taken them close
to, or actually through the lands of Minon, Noah, Melek and Zarahemla,
the most thickly populated portions of the country; or, to have avoided
these, they must have taken a circuitous route of immense length and
great danger. Then when they attempted to retire, their retreat, owing
to their great distance from Nephi, would have most assuredly been cut
off, as was the case with the Lamanite general Coriantumr under these
conditions.
NOAH.--Of this land we simply know two things: First, that it was west
of the Sidon; second, that it was not far distant from Ammonihah and
Melek.
SIDOM is only mentioned in the 15th chapter of Alma. When the
persecuted members of the true church were driven out of Ammonihah by
its vicious citizens, they fled to Sidom. It is not supposable that
these persecuted people were in a condition to travel far. They would
necessarily gather to the first available place of refuge. It is,
therefore, reasonable to conclude that Sidom was not far distant from
Ammonihah.
AARON.--When Alma was first cast out of Ammonihah he turned his face
towards a city called Aaron (_Alma viii. 13_). It is natural to
suppose that Aaron was not far distant from Ammonihah; at any rate,
not on the other side of the continent. Yet the only other time when
a city called Aaron is referred to, it is spoken of as adjoining
the land of Moroni, which was the frontier district in the extreme
south-east of the lands possessed by the Nephites. Our only way out of
this difficulty is to suggest that there were two cities called Aaron;
not at all an unlikely thing when we reflect how important a personage
Aaron, the son of Mosiah, was among his people. When chosen to be
king he declined this great honor, and the republic was established.
It requires no stretch of the imagination to believe that a free
and grateful people would name more than one city in honor of this
self-denying prince. When we consider how many places there are in the
United States called Washington, Lincoln, etc., our only wonder is that
we do not find more than two cities called Aaron.
This same difficulty exists with regard to NEPHIHAH. We fancy there
were also two cities of this name; one situated on the southern
frontier, some distance east of Manti and the Sidon (_Alma lvi. 25_);
the other on the Atlantic sea-board, north of Moroni (_Alma l. 14_). Of
this latter city it is written that in the year B. C. 72 the Nephites
began a foundation for a city between the city of Moroni and the city
of Aaron, joining the city of Aaron and Moroni, and they called the
name of the city or land, Nephihah. This is the region again referred
to in chapters 51, 59 and 62 of the Book of Alma. Elder Orson Pratt,
in a foot note to chapter 56, draws attention to the fact that the
Nephihah there mentioned is not the one spoken of in the other chapters.
THE ATLANTIC SEA-BOARD.--It appears, though it is not altogether
certain, that the lands and cities of the Nephites on the Atlantic
sea-board were situated in the following order, commencing at the
north: Mulek, Gid, Omner, Morianton, Lehi, Aaron, Nephihah and Moroni
(_Alma li. 26_).
MORONI was situated by the seashore, on the borders of the great
wilderness, being the farthest from the city of Zarahemla of all the
settlements of the Nephites in the south-east. Or, to use the language
of the inspired historian, it was by the east sea; and it was on the
south by the land of the possessions of the Lamanites (_Alma l. 13_).
As the wilderness ran in a straight line from east to west, and the
Sidon arose near its northern border, on which border Moroni was also
situated, if the convulsions at the time of the crucifixion of our Lord
did not so alter the face of the country as to change the locality
where this river took its rise, then Moroni was in the country now
called Guiana, or in the extreme north of Brazil. The city Moroni now
lies covered by the waters of the Atlantic (_III. Nephi viii. 9_). In
Guiana, there is a river still called Moroni, or, as it is generally
printed on the maps, Maroni or Marony. There is also a river Morona in
Ecuador.
LEHI.--The land of Lehi on the Atlantic coast must not be confounded
with the whole of South America, also called the land of Lehi by the
Nephites. This lesser land of Lehi was the district surrounding the
city of Lehi, and immediately adjoining the land of Morianton, whose
people indeed claimed, though unjustly, a portion of its territory.
MULEK was the most northern of the settlements of the Nephites south of
the land Bountiful, close to the borders of which it was built. It is
positively stated to have been located on the east sea (_Alma li. 26_);
west of it was a wilderness, or uninhabited region (_Alma lii. 22_).
BOUNTIFUL.--We believe that there is an idea held by some that the city
Bountiful was situated on the Pacific shore. This opinion we think is
not warranted by any statement in the Book of Mormon. Mulek, as we
have already shown, was on the Atlantic, or east sea; Bountiful was
northward of Mulek. When Teancum retreated before the hosts of the
Lamanites, who poured out of the city of Mulek to capture his small
force, he began to retreat down by _the sea shore northward_ (_Alma
lii. 23_). This course brought him to Bountiful. From the details
contained in this chapter we opine that he and his soldiers reached
that city on the same day that they started from outside of Mulek.
Now, unless the configuration of the coast line has been entirely
and completely changed, no march of one day, or indeed of any length
of time along "the sea shore northward" would bring a person to the
Pacific Ocean. Our only conclusion can be that Bountiful was situated
on the sea shore on the eastern side of the Isthmus, if on the Isthmus
at all. Other passages than the one above show that Mulek and Bountiful
lay in close proximity.
We fancy the reason why some suppose that the city Bountiful lay on
the west coast is because Hagoth built his ship yards there. But the
record does not say he built them in or near the city Bountiful. What
is stated is that Hagoth went forth and built him an exceedingly large
ship, on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation, and
launched it forth into the west sea, by the narrow neck of land which
led into the wilderness northward (_Alma liii. 5_). This narrow neck of
land was the dividing line between the land Desolation on the north,
and the land Bountiful on the south. We think it is evident, from the
above, that the city Bountiful and Hagoth's settlement lay on opposite
sides of the Isthmus, the first, on the east near Mulek, the second, in
the north-west near Desolation.
Before the land Bountiful was settled by the Nephites, it was a
wilderness filled with all manner of wild animals of every kind; a part
of which had come from the land northward for food (_Alma xxii. 31_).
But the Nephites, to prevent the Lamanites creeping up through the
wilderness along the coasts, and thus gaining a foothold in the land
northward, at as early a date as possible inhabited the land Bountiful,
even from the east to the west sea (_Alma xxii. 33_).
The city called Bountiful is not mentioned until B. C. 64 (_Alma
lii_), though the land of that name is frequently referred to at
earlier dates.
THE SOUTH-WEST BORDER.--All we know of the cities and lands in the
south-west is contained in Helaman's report to Moroni of the military
operations in that department (_Alma lvi, lviii_). Four cities are
mentioned west of Manti: Judea, Antiparah, Zeezrom and Cumeni. Of
these, Antiparah appears to have been situated nearer the coast than
Judea, while there was yet another city still nearer the ocean, and
apparently to the north of Antiparah. But we can simply guess at their
relative positions, no positive information being given us.
Besides the foregoing there was a land called DESOLATION. Before the
time of the Nephites it was thickly inhabited by the Jaredites. In the
days of the latter people Bountiful formed its southern border. The two
lands apparently joined at the Isthmus. At first, like most frontier
districts, it extended indefinitely into the uninhabited regions. When
other lands were colonized its boundaries became more definitely fixed.
It is generally supposed to have embraced within its borders the region
known to moderns as Central America. Its capital was a city of the same
name probably built in later years, as it is never mentioned but by
Mormon in the account of the long series of wars in which he took so
prominent a part.