Using strictly the scriptures, I
would like to ask the following questions of those many Theorists who claim their pet theories about the
location of the Land of Promise are consistent with the scriptural record.
The third question is directed to
Joseph Allen, who has written extensively about, and conducts tours to, his
Mesoamerican Land of Promise:
3. “What makes you think that when Mormon describes a Nephite crossing his
narrow neck of land in a day and a half that your Isthmus of Tehuantepec in
Mesoamerica, at 130 to 144 miles in width, qualifies as Mormon’s narrow neck of
land?”
First, to help his future reader
understand the distance or width of the narrow neck of land which separated the
Land Northward from the Land Southward, Mormon tell us that “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”
(Alma 22:32).
Second,
the movement of a Nephite, or common man, over terrain is fairly well
understood, both in ancient Israel as it is today. A man can walk for an
extended time (several straight hours) at a pace of about 1.5 to 2 miles per
hour over even, unobstructed terrain, such as along a road or hard-baked dirt
path.
A satellite photo of the Isthmus of
Tehuantpec. Note that the northern ¾ of the width is dark green representing swampy,
solid jungle; the southern ¼ is brown, showing the hills and mountains of the
Sierra Madre and the Chivela Pass
Third, topography from coast to coast through the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec is blocked by the Sierra Madre Mountains, with crest heights
of 6561to 9842 feet extending southward and eastward through Mexico and Central
America and represent the most prominent geographic feature of the region—this
mountain range separates the Gulf of Mexico, Bay of Campeche, and Caribbean Sea
from the Pacific Ocean. The only way through is the Chivela Pass—a 136-mile
long, 24-mile wide gap—the terrain in this gap has a maximum elevation of 820-feet
with peaks to its west reaching 6561 feet, and those to the east approaching 4921
feet.
Fourth, the topography over this
Chivela Pass is not level, but natural hilly and mountainous, making any foot
traffic difficult and slow. Once through the Pass heading south to north, one
then encounters about 100 miles of swampy jungle, making foot traffic extremely
difficult.
Ruins dating to 1300 A.D. in the Tehuantepec Gap. Note the rough hilly
topography along the southern side while the northern side is swampy and
densely covered with jungle
Fifth, for the territory of the
small or narrow neck of land to have been identified in Nephite times, it would
have had to have been noticeable from ground level and understood. One of the
key words would be “small,” or “narrow,” which the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is so
obviously not.
Top: a modern image of the Isthmus—even today it is barely noticeable
and little more than a slight narrowing of the land; Bottom: in this 1736 map
of Central America and the West Indies—before satellite photos and aerial
photography, this map was drawn from sailing vessels in the area. The so-called
Isthmus of Tehuantepec was unknown and is unnoticed in this map
Sixth, this Chivela Pass is the
only gap through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Two other low-level gaps exist,
one in Honduras and the other in Panama, so this would be the only area where a
person (a Nephite) could take his journey across this area. In the late 1800s,
a railway was built across it covering 130 miles from coast to coast, but later
a more sturdy and successful railway was built, covering 191 miles.
Seventh, violent, gap winds flow
through this area, called the gap outflow and named tehuantepecer or tehuano,
and this cold, dense air can reach such velocity (as much as 100 mph) that they
sandblast the paint off ships out to sea, and have been noted as much as 1000
miles away. These winds can reach gale, storm and hurricane force, influencing
the formation of hurricanes and typhoons.
The Tehuantepecer crossing the Isthmus of Tehuantepec through the
Chivela Pass. The green lines show the force of this violent north wind,
provided by the Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB) of the National
Hurricane Center
So once again, we ask the
question, “How on earth could a common man (a Nephite) journey across this
Isthmus of Tehuantepec through the Chivela Pass, over enormously uneven ground,
through swamps and jungle, in a day and a half as Mormon describes?"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment