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.