The Life of Nephi, the Son of Lehi / Who Emigrated from Jerusalem, in Judea, to the Land Which Is Now Known as South America, about Six Centuries Before the Coming of Our Savior

by George Q. Cannon

Here our two allusions to the land of Nephi, and without desiring to favor any particular theory or to strain the language to sustain any special views, it conveys to us the idea, when taken in connection with other facts contained in the record, that the land of Nephi was, as we have said, an extensive region, embracing at least the west side of the continent with the Pacific shore for some distance to the south, and perhaps embracing within its boundaries the whole of the south continent outside of the limits of Zarahemla. In the same chapter (verse 34) the same idea is clearly expressed in the language that "the Lamanites could have no more possessions only in the land of Nephi, and the wilderness round about," and this, too, at a time when the whole continent, south of the line of the land of Zarahemla, was either in possession of the Lamanites, or open to them. It must not be forgotten, however, that what is now known in geography as South America was called Lehi, and North America was called Mulek by the Nephites. (Helaman vi. 10).

CHAPTER XVIII.

Travelers' Descriptions of Land Once Occupied by Nephites—Cradle of an Imperial Race—The Productions of the Land in Modern Times Agree with Description of Same in Book of Mormon—Rapid Recovery from Effects of Disastrous Commotions and Wars Accounted for—Healthy Climate—Remarkable Longevity—Jacob, Enos, Jarom and Omni—Longevity of Indians in Ecuador and Peru.

A traveler by the name of Markham, (Jour. of English Geog. Soc. Vol. xli., 1871, pp. 285, 286.) in speaking of the country between the northern line of Chili and the southern line of Ecuador—the country which we think was called the land of Nephi, and in some portion of which Nephi settled with his people when he fled from his brethren—says:

"This vast tract comprises every variety of climate, and contains within its limits most prolific tropical forests, valleys with the climate of Italy, a coast region resembling Sinde or Egypt, temperate hillsides or plateaux, bleak and chilling pasture lands, and lofty peaks and ridges within the limits of eternal snows. On one mountain side the eye may embrace, at a single glance, sugar cane and bananas under cultivation in the lowest zone, waving fields of Indian corn a little higher up, shaded by tall trees, orchards of tropical fruits, stretches of wheat and barley, steep slopes, covered with potatoes and quinoa, bleak pastures where llamas and alpacas are browsing, and rocky pinnacles streaked with snow."

Such a country, with such a variety of climates and products, was well adapted for the cradle of an imperial race as the Nephites proved to be. The mighty obstacles of nature, which some portions of that country presented, were such as to tax their ingenuity to the utmost. But Humboldt has well observed that,

"When enterprising races inhabit a land where the form of the ground presents to them difficulties on a grand scale which they may conquer and overcome, the contest with nature becomes a means of increasing their strength and power as well as their courage."

Stevenson, in his Twenty Years in South America, says, in speaking of one of the provinces of this region:

"The various climates, assisted by the various localities of the soil, would produce all the necessaries and all the luxuries of life; for in the small compass of fifty leagues, a traveler experiences the almost unbearable heat of the torrid zone, the mild climates of the temperate, and the freezing cold of the polar regions."