THE LANDS OF ANTUM, TEANCUM, JOSHUA, DAVID, ETC.--CUMORAH--THE HILLS
OF THE NEPHITES--THE RIVER SIDON.
In the history of the final wars between the Nephites and Lamanites we
find lands and cities mentioned that are nowhere else spoken of. It is
presumable that most of them were built during the blest sabbatic era
that followed the visit of the Redeemer. The greater portion of these
places were situated in North America, but the exact locality can in
scarcely any instance be determined. Among those named are the lands or
cities of Antum, Angola, David, Joshua, Jashon, Shem, Teancum, Boaz,
Jordon, Cumorah, Sherrizah and Moriantum.
ANTUM.--A land of North America in which was situated a hill called
Shim. In this hill Ammaron deposited the sacred records. Mormon
afterwards, by Ammaron's direction, obtained the plates of Nephi from
this hiding place and continued the record thereon. The land of Jashon
appears to have bordered on the land of Antum; as the city of Jashon is
said to have been near the land where Ammaron deposited the records.
The city of TEANCUM was situated by the sea shore near to, and
apparently north of, the city Desolation.
The land of JOSHUA was on the borders west by the sea shore, but
whether in the northern or southern continent is not clear.
The land of DAVID appears to have been located between Angola and
Joshua.
One of the most noted places in ancient American history was the
land in which was situated the hill known to the Jaredites as Ramah
and to the Nephites as Cumorah. In its vicinity two great races were
exterminated; for it was there that the last battles were fought in the
history of both peoples. There also the sacred records of the Nephites
found their final resting place. When iniquity began to increase in
their midst Ammaron hid the holy things in the hill Shim (A.C. 321).
About fifty-five years after (say in A.C. 376) Mormon, seeing that
his people were fast melting away before the Lamanites, and fearing
that the latter would get possession of the records and destroy them,
removed all that had been placed in his care by Ammaron, and afterwards
hid up in the hill Cumorah all that had been entrusted to him by the
hands of the Lord, save the few plates which he gave to his son Moroni.
Moroni afterwards concealed the treasures committed to his keeping
in the same hill, where they remained until they were, by heaven's
permission, exhumed and translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith for our
edification. We presume all our readers are acquainted with the fact
that this hill is situated about three or four miles from Palmyra, in
the state of New York.
Besides Cumorah, several other hills come prominently to the foreground
in Nephite history. There were the hills Riplah and Amnihu, near the
river Sidon, in the neighborhood of which desperate battles were fought
in the days of Alma, resulting, in both instances, in victory to the
hosts of the Nephites. Again there was the hill Manti. It also was near
the Sidon; on its top Nehor was executed for the murder of the aged
Gideon. Then there was Mount Antipas on whose summit Lehonti and the
recalcitrant Lamanites gathered when they refused to give heed to their
king's war proclamation. It was situated somewhere within the borders
of the Lamanites, near Onidah, the place of arms. There was also a
hill Onidah in the land of Antionum, upon which Alma preached to the
Zoramite apostates.
When perusing the Book of Mormon we have sometimes inclined to the
opinion that before the time of the crucifixion of Christ the Andes and
other ranges of mountains existed in a much more modified form than at
present. We have been led to this conclusion from the fact that no high
mountains or stretches of rugged mountain country such as at present
exist in Chili, Peru, Ecuador and the United States of Columbia, are
suggested by the narrative. Individual hills such as we have drawn
attention to, are occasionally mentioned, showing that the country was
of diversified altitude; but we have little or nothing to lead our
minds to the contemplation of the stupendous peaks and everlasting
hills that characterize this region now-a-days. It is also somewhat
singular that no reference is made to any rivers in the regions where
the Orinoco and Amazon now course in their vast volume to the Atlantic.
Our only answer is that the Book of Mormon is primarily a religious
record, that the geographical and topographical references are only
incidental, and consequently no special importance can be placed on
what is not mentioned. Perhaps, also, these rivers, as suggested in the
case of the Sidon, ran in different channels, and possibly with a less
volume of water then than now.
One of the most important places in Nephite history, for four or five
hundred years, was the river Sidon. It was their great highway, more to
them than the Mississippi is to this country or the Thames to England.
Along its banks were situated their capital and other prominent cities.
Its valleys were the most densely populated portions of the land. It
was also the grand trunk road to the land of Nephi, and adown its
banks poured the hosts of the dark skinned invaders when they forced
their way into the land of Zarahemla. To tell all that took place on
its borders would be to rewrite the history of the Judges, and to
include much of the annals of the kings and the story of the Messianic
dispensation.
As stated in other places in this book it is understood that the Sidon
of the Nephites is the Magdalena of today; but it is open to question
if its course was not considerably changed during the convulsions that
attended the death of the Savior. We incline to the opinion that in the
ages before those terrible upheavals of the lands the Sidon was a far
nobler, more placid river than the Magdalena is now. Nor do we think it
emptied into the ocean at the same spot as at present. The coast line,
we believe, has much changed and with that change the point of outflow
of this river has been moved.
While journeying on their way through Arabia, Lehi and his party gave
such names to the localities they passed or at which they rested as
they pleased. The Red Sea is the only place we can distinguish by
the name given to it. At their first temporary abiding place on its
borders, Lehi, in honor of his elder sons, called the valley where they
camped the valley of Lemuel, and the river that coursed through it the
river Laman. As they proceeded on their journey we read of Shazer,
Nahom, and Bountiful. The last named must not be confounded with the
Bountiful in the northern part of South America where the Savior, more
than six hundred years afterward, appeared and taught the Nephites.
It was a portion of Arabia Felix, or Arabia the happy, so called in
contradistinction to Arabia the stony and Arabia the desert, on account
of its abundant productiveness and great fertility. It was in this
blessed region, on the shore of the Arabian sea, that Nephi built the
ship that carried the colony to the promised land. To the sea itself
they gave the name of Irreantum, meaning many waters.
The course traveled by Lehi and his people has been revealed with
some detail. The Prophet Joseph Smith states: They traveled nearly a
south-south-east direction until they came to the nineteenth degree of
north latitude; then, nearly east to the sea of Arabia; then sailed in
a south-east direction, and landed on the continent of South America,
in Chili, thirty degrees south latitude.
With regard to the course of Mulek and his company we are left entirely
in the dark; all we are told is that they landed in the northern
continent. There is an understanding among the Latter-day Saints that
this party traveled westward from Jerusalem. Some think they went
first to Egypt under the guidance of the Prophet Jeremiah; then by the
Mediterranean Sea either to Spain or Morocco, thence by ship across the
Atlantic. Others fancy they went direct by ship from Palestine.
Reference is made in the Book of Mormon to many lands, places and
cities on the eastern continent. Among the best known lands mentioned
are Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Ophir, Cush, Elam, Syria, Bashan, Galilee,
Samaria, Palestina, Edom and Moab. Among cities--Jerusalem, Nazareth,
Damascus, Sodom and Gomorrah;--of mountains Sinai, Horeb and Lebanon;
the Red or Egyptian sea; and of peoples--the Medes, Chaldees, Midianites
and Arabians.