Lehi’s Landing According to Nephi (not Williams) – Part II

While Nephi claims there was a huge forest near their landing site, there is no forest per se above ground covering any area close to a landing site at Apalachicola, Florida. Nor is there anything matching the scriptural record found at the Great Lakes area.

Under the Köppen Climate Classification Jerusalem has a (Csa), "dry-summer subtropical" climate referred to as "Mediterranean" Climate, with a zone averaging temperature above 50 °F in their warmest months, and an average in the coldest between 64 to 27 °F. 30º South Latitude, in central Chile, has a Mediterranean Climate. Coquimbo Bay, Chile, where Lehi landed, has a warm and temperate climate—the rain falls mostly in the winter, with relatively little rain in the summer. According to Köppen and Geiger, this climate is classified as Csc. The average annual temperature is 59.5 °F. The annual rainfall is 13.2 inches. 

One of the largest rainforests in the world is located next to La Serena, Chile

 

However, in Chile, at Coquimbo and El Serena is one of the largest rain forests in the world, called the Fray Jorge National Park, which is a nationally important remnant of a once more extensive Valdivian Temperate Rain Forests or cloud forest, with a tree line at about 7,875 feet altitude in central Chile, descending to 3,280 feet in the south of the Valdivian region.

In entering the forest, it takes you from semi-arid desert to dripping wet forest in a short space, due to the mist rolling in from the Pacific. This water-loving hydrofillic forest and the very nice abrupt change from the pre-forest to the actual park something not to be missed.

It is quite bizarre to come across a large rainforest on the edge of a semi-arid desert! However, because it gets moisture from the clouds, Fray Jorge park is a unique mix of biospheres, abundance of wildlife and wild mist burning off the mountains—which is all very unique in Chile. Like all national parks here, it is low key by North American standards—but do not miss what makes this Park unique. As an example, there is a large green patch of forestry in the top of a very dry hill that the mist that comes from the sea every day is responsible for watering and creating this wonder. That is the beauty of the place.

Once you reach the cloud forest you will see olive trees, cinnamon trees, and various herbs. you will see some birds, and animals like foxes and the chinchilla rat, with plenty of llama and alpaca with guanaco and vicuña in the distance, including tapirs, marsh deer, white-tailed deer, spectacled bear, the leopard and the jaguar.

The point is it is a huge forest with wild beasts and ferile animals living within it as Nephi stated.

 Ultisols, commonly known as red clay soils, are one of twelve soil orders in the United States Department of Agriculture soil taxonomy.While the term is usually applied to the red clay soils of the Southern United States--You can have all the best plants and the best tools but it won’t mean a thing if you have clay-heavy soil and don’t take steps to amend the soil before planting.

  

• The soil of the Heartland is the red clay soils of the southeastern United States, which are examples of Ultisols (leached red or reddish-yellow acid soil with a clay-rich B horizon (subsoil), occurring in warm, humid climates), which is the dominant soil of much of the southeastern United States and occupies about 9.2% of the total U.S. land area.

• The Great Lakes soil is grouped as upland loams, plains sands, sandy loams and sands.

• The soil of Guatemala (Land Southward in the Mesoamerican Land of Promise) sandy loam texture, acidic pH, low available phosphorus (P) reflecting high phosphate sorption coefficient, low exchangeable calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg), and high exchangeable potassium (K).

• On the other hand, Jerusalem has a series consisting of very deep, well drained soils with moderately slow permeability that formed in colluvium from granitic rocks.

 

A reddish-brown residual soil found as a mantle over limestone bedrock, typically in the karst areas around the Adriatic Sea, under conditions of Mediterranean-type climate. Also spelled: terra rosa. Etymol: Italian, red earth.

 

• In the transverse valleys of north-central Chile, fertile alluvial soils have developed on fluvial deposits, while between the rivers soils are dry and infertile. Within the Central Valley the alluvial soils have developed over fluviovolcanic deposits, which is the reason for their mineral and organic richness. The alluvial (clay, silt, sand, gravel, or similar detrital material deposited by running water) deposits from the numerous Andean rivers in central Chile have provided mineral-rich soils that support the flourishing Mediterranean-type agriculture of the Central Valley of the intermediate depression.

As for the food products each area specialized in producing;

• The main food products produced in Guatemala (Mesoamerica) are maize, sugarcane, banana and coffee;

• In the Heartland it is: corn, sorghum, barley, and oats.

• In the Great Lakes: corn, soybeans, wheat, animal fodder;

• In Jerusalem: wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olives and honey;

• In Chile: Corn, Quinoa, Kiwichi, wheat and barley, figs, and pomegranates, olives and honey.

Even in the simple matters of the scriptural record, the matches are maintained—the Heartland, Great lakes and Mesoamerica simply do not match Mormon, Nephi, Jacob or Moroni’s descriptions. And no amount of changes, alterations, fudging or re-defining statements are going to change that!