Continued from the previous post regarding the differences between these four terms. That is, in discussing Mormon’s description of the width, from the east to the west sea, or its length, from the Land Southward to the Land Northward, being the distance of a Nephite walking a day and a half.
Since Mormon provides no extra information regarding the Nephite walking that distance, we must assume there is no extra or special qualifiers to his choosing a Nephite, other than to tell us it was a common man, a Nephite as opposed to a Lamanite, doing the walking. It is also important to keep in mind why Mormon described this distance in this mFNarrow Passanner, and to whom he was describing it.
Let’s say you lived in Provo during the early Pioneer days and someone approached you traveling into Provo from the south and asked you where Salt Lake City was located. You might have said, “Just around the point of that mountain to the north and then a way,” or, noting he sat on the box of a wagon drawn by two oxen, you might have said, “It’s about two more days and a bit to the north of here.”
Today you would answer, “It’s about an hour north of here.” But let’s say you were trying to write that to a future people who would not live for 1800 years. What would they use for travel? A bicycle? On horseback? A 1928 Essex or a Model T Ford? Or maybe a Lamborghini or rocket sled? What if they could fly? Not knowing what it might that they would use for conveyance in the future, how would you tell them the distance?
Would they understand a “mile,” “kilometer,” or “meters”? Since there are “land miles,” “air miles,” “statute miles,” or “nautical miles,” it might be hard to be specific—in addition, there might be other meanings for “miles” in the future, as there was in the past between English mile, Roman mile, Arabic mile, or European mile. For example, the Norway and Sweden mil is 6 miles, and 100 Portuguese milha (mile) is 26 ½ miles longer than 100 American miles.
What if a neighbor, a Russian immigrant, said it was 34,000 sazhens, or about 68 verstas? Or a Croatian told you it was six-and-a-half miles, or a Dane told you it was nine-and-a-half miles, or a Scot told you it was 40 miles, would you know that all four of these distances were the same as 45 American miles?
The point is, there was no language Mormon could have used that we would be able to interpret as he meant it other than what a normal walking man (a Nephite) could cover in a certain length of time. Thus Mormon tells us the neck could be crossed by a Nephite in a day and a half. He did not mean a running, riding, or boating man—nor did he mean by someone who was a professional runner, a military courier, marathon runner, or some record-breaking athlete. He meant a normal, average man, in order to convey to us how far or wide was the narrow neck of land, since men throughout time had always been pretty much the same and walking was pretty much a normal and constant method of moving. Otherwise, there was no point in his making the comment in the first place.
Left: Yellow Arrows show the distant width of the Narrow Neck, that before the crucifixion ended at the Sea East, not blocked by the Andes Mountains; White Arrow shows length of the Narrow Neck
Thus, we find that the Narrow Neck of Land could be crossed by a normal man walking at a normal pace in a day and a half of about 18 hours, with a day of about 12 hours of visible light (12 hours for one day and 6 hours for half a day). This is particularly important since in the time era discussed, there would be no means of false light—travel would have been likely only during daylight.
This means that a normal man in the time of the Nephites or in our time, would average about two miles a day for 12 straight hours, and six hours the following day for a total of 36 miles. So we are dealing with a Narrow Neck of Land was about 36 miles wide (from sea to sea), or 36 miles long (from the Land Northward to the Land Southward).
Thus we can conclude that Mormon provided the distance a normal man could walk in a certain length of time to show us a distance that is constant in both Nephite time and our time.
As for the difference between Small Neck and Narrow Neck, in 1829 when Joseph Smith was translating the plates, the following definitions existed in the northeast where Joseph grew up and where Noah Webster lived and compiled his dictionary (1828 American Dictionary of the English Language):
Small - Slender; thin; fine; of little diameter; hence in general, little in size; not great; as a small house; a small farm; a small body.
Narrow - Of little breadth; not wide or broad; having little distance from side to side; as a narrow street; a narrow sea. It is only or chiefly applied to the surface of flat or level bodies. Now, as for the other description, there was a(Imag
way of getting to the Land Northward from the Land Southward through a Narrow Pass.Thus, the small, narrow neck was little in size and slender or thin, of little distance from the center to the side(s), and overall little in size. So the neck was both narrow from side (Sea East) to side (Sea West); and little from north (Land Northward) to south (Land Southward). And according to Mormon, was the only connection between the Land Northward and the Land Southward.
Again, the dictionary in 1829 define Pass as: A narrow passage, as a pass between mountains; a narrow pass. To pass over, to move from side to side; to cross; as, to pass over a river or mountain. Thus, a Narrow Pass is a narrow passage, entrance or avenue; a narrow or difficult place of entrance and exit; as a pass between mountains.
Since Mormon used the term Small Neck (Alma 22:32) and Narrow Neck (Alma 63:5) in “the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation, and launched it forth into the west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward (Alma 63:5), both describing a pass into the Land Northward from the Land Southward.
Where did this Pass exist? Since there was only one land mentioned existing between the Land Northward and the Land Southward (Alma 22:32), the Narrow Pass had to be through this narrow neck. In addition, Narrow Passage, defined as “Road way; avenue; a place where men or things may pass or be conveyed” means that there was a Narrow Pass through the Narrow Neck from the Land Northward that provided a narrow passage to the Land Southward, as Mormon states: “by the narrow neck which led into the land northward” (Mormon 3:5) and Narrow Passage (Mormon 2:29) were interchangeable terms and meant the same thing, i.e., a narrow pass through the Narrow Neck of Land.
Thus, there is a Narrow Pass that run through the Small or Narrow Neck of Land that provided a Narrow Passage between the Land Southward and the Land Northward.
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