|
 "A
Day and A Half's Journey for a Nephite"
Based
on research by John L. Sorenson
The narrow neck
of land is an important geographical feature in the Book of Mormon.
For many years people have debated whether the narrow neck was the
Isthmus of Panama, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico,
or somewhere else. Some have argued that the neck must have been
very narrow, because Alma 22:32 says that the distance across the
"narrow neck" of the promised land from the east to the west sea
was "a day and a half's journey for a Nephite." How wide could this
distance have been? Recently analyzed information suggests that
it could have been quite wide indeed.
First, since
the Limhi explorers (see Mosiah 8:7-8; 21:25-26) passed through
this narrow neck without knowing they had done so (they thought
they were still in or around the land of Zarahemla), this warns
us that the narrow neck must be of some substantial width.
Second, we also
know that some people can go a long way in a day and a half. For
example, a new BYU Media Productions film Tarahumar: Footrunners
Live On describes a northwest Mexican Indian group who call themselves
the Raramuri (footrunners). Some of them have been known to run
five hundred miles in six days and to return that distance after
a day's rest.
Even more, the
book Ultra-Marathoning, the Next Challenge documents such accomplishments
as Edward Weston's walking five hundred miles in six days. The record
for the greatest distance traveled on foot in twenty-four hours
was set in 1973 by Ron Bentley of Great Britain-161 miles.1 Since
the Nephite record says that it was a day and a half's journey for
a Nephite, we might infer that this was a significant feat and that
it would have taken longer for someone else.
Moreover, the
isthmus itself may have been wider than the "day and a half's" distance
since we cannot be sure that the measuring point began on the east
at the sea. Alma says that it was a day and a half's journey from
"the east" to the west sea.
The journey
may have begun some distance inland. Obviously, we do not yet know
how wide the narrow neck was, but these figures show that it could
have been a substantial distance. The width of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec,
which is now accepted by many Book of Mormon scholars as the Nephite
narrow neck of land, is 120 miles-an acceptable distance for the
day-and-a-half journey.
Note
1. Tom Osler and Ed Dodd, Ultra-Marathoning, the Next Challenge
(Mountain View, California: World Publications, 1979), 10, 126.
Click
here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.
© 2001 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
|
