24 Now there was a multitude gathered together because of the commandment of the queen, and there began to be great murmurings among them because of Aaron and his brethren.
25 But the king stood forth among them and administered unto them. And they were pacified towards Aaron and those who were with him.
26 And it came to pass that when the king saw that the people were pacified, he caused that Aaron and his brethren should stand forth in the midst of the multitude, and that they should preach the word unto them.
Alma 22:24-26 (Emphasis mine)
The situation was becoming tense. The people called together began to murmur (there’s that word again) against Aaron and his brethren for what they did to the king.
The king came forth and administered to the people. Once they saw the king was alive and fine, they ceased the murmuring and the crowd calmed down. Once that happened, the king had Aaron and his brethren to preach to the people.
27 And it came to pass that the king sent a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and round about on the borders of the seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land of Zarahemla, through the borders of Manti, by the head of the river Sidon, running from the east towards the west—and thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided.
28 Now, the more idle part of the Lamanites lived in the wilderness, and dwelt in tents; and they were spread through the wilderness on the west, in the land of Nephi; yea, and also on the west of the land of Zarahemla, in the borders by the seashore, and on the west in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers' first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore.
29 And also there were many Lamanites on the east by the seashore, whither the Nephites had driven them. And thus the Nephites were nearly surrounded by the Lamanites; nevertheless the Nephites had taken possession of all the northern parts of the land bordering on the wilderness, at the head of the river Sidon, from the east to the west, round about on the wilderness side; on the north, even until they came to the land which they called Bountiful.
30 And it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, it being the place of their first landing.
31 And they came from there up into the south wilderness. Thus the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful, it being the wilderness which is filled with all manner of wild animals of every kind, a part of which had come from the land northward for food.
Alma 22:27-31 (Emphasis mine)
Here there is a break from the account to give us some geographical information. As it is written, it gives us an idea of the size and scope of the settlements.
“The nearest thing to a systematic explanation of Mormon’s geographical picture is given in Alma 22:27–34. In the course of relating an incident involving Nephite missionaries and the great king over the Lamanites, Mormon inserted a 570-word aside that summarized major features of the land southward. He must have considered that treatment full and clear enough for his purposes, because he never returned to the topic.” [1] (Emphasis mine)
One little piece of information we get is that is the location of where the Mulekites landed in the New World. Verse 30 tells us:
“And it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, it being the place of their first landing.”
It appears that the land of Desolation was the location of their landing.
32 And now, it was only the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea; and 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.
33 And it came to pass that the Nephites had inhabited the land Bountiful, even from the east unto the west sea, and thus the Nephites in their wisdom, with their guards and their armies, had hemmed in the Lamanites on the south, that thereby they should have no more possession on the north, that they might not overrun the land northward.
34 Therefore the Lamanites could have no more possessions only in the land of Nephi, and the wilderness round about. Now this was wisdom in the Nephites—as the Lamanites were an enemy to them, they would not suffer their afflictions on every hand, and also that they might have a country whither they might flee, according to their desires.
35 And now I, after having said this, return again to the account of Ammon and Aaron, Omner and Himni, and their brethren.
Alma 22:32-35 (Emphasis mine)
Mormon continues with geography. He mentions a “small neck of land.” This has become a major feature used in attempting to identify the geography of the Nephites.
Hugh Nibley makes this observation about geography.
“That certainly places them in Central America, doesn't it? Notice that the Nephites ‘had hemmed in the Lamanites on the south.’ They wouldn't like that, you see. The wisdom of the Nephite was ‘that they might have a country whither they might flee.’ They were outnumbered and they looked forward to a time when they might have to withdraw. To have something to fall back on they kept the land up in the North. This was their military policy through the years, and you can see it would always bring pressure on the Lamanites. The Lamanites were always making their slave raids, etc.” [2] (Emphasis mine)
Other accounts tell us:
“How wide was this narrow neck? One historical anecdote makes clear that it was wide enough that a party passing through it could not detect seas on either side. Limhi’s explorers traveled northward from the land of Nephi trying to locate Zarahemla but wandered on through the narrow neck. When they returned home they thought they had been in the land southward the whole time. Actually, they had journeyed all the way through the neck to the zone of the Jaredites’ final battles (see Mosiah 8:8; 21:25). (Had there been any mountain near their route, they might have climbed it to reconnoiter, seen the sea, and reevaluated their position.) Later, however, after further exploration, the Nephites came to realize that the neck connected two major land masses. Still later, in the fourth century a.d. when Mormon prepared his account of Nephite history, it was well-known among his people that it was ‘the distance of a day and a half’s journey for a Nephite’ across the isthmus (Alma 22:32).” [3] (Emphasis mine)
“The two crucial landmasses were called the land southward and the land northward. They were connected by an isthmus described as ‘narrow.’ The Nephites thought of their land as ‘nearly surrounded by water’ and, at least in their early days, as an ‘isle of the sea’ (Alma 22:32; 2 Nephi 10:20). (Isle anciently did not necessarily mean an area entirely isolated by water, but rather that the area so labeled could be reached via boat. See the dictionary in the Latter-day Saint edition of the King James Version of the ‘Isles.' )” [4] (Emphasis mine)
Here Mormon stops his comments and returns to his account of Aaron and his brethren.
[1] How Can We Arrive at Mormon's Map?, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 20, 2011.
[2] Lecture 52: Alma 19-22, Hugh W. Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 20, 2011.
[3] Mormon’s Map - The Overall Configuration, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 20, 2011.
[4] Before DNA, Matthew Roper, and John L. Sorenson, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 20, 2011.
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