The Absolute Necessity of Matching Scripture – Part XI

Continuing from the graph of 31 scripturally-based descriptions of the Land of Promise (graph shown in the first of these articles). 28 of these descriptions are listed in the previous posts. Here we continue with 29 below:

Land of Many Waters—lakes, waterfalls, rivers and fountains

 

(29) Land of Many Waters. The Jaredites landed along the seashore and immediately began to till the earth (Ether 6:13), and soon spread upon the face of the land (Ether 6:18). Eventually they went inland and up in the hills and mountains, where they

established the city of Moron, and called the area around the city the Land of Moron, which was elevated above the land around it for people had to go “up unto the land of Moron where the king dwelt (Ether 7:5, emphasis added). This land of Moron “was near the land which is called Desolation by the Nephites” (Ether 7:6, emphasis added).

Thus, the first kingdom of the Jaredites was the city of Moron where the king dwelt, and along with the Land of Moron, was at a higher elevation than the lands around it.

Many years later, following a division of the kingdom, the return of secret combinations, and a great war between the two factions that ended with king Omer being overthrown (Ether 9:1). Now Omer was warned by the Lord “to depart out of the land” (Ether 9:3). Omer and all his family who did not seek his destruction (Ether 9:2) traveled many days, and came over and passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed [hill Cumorah], and from thence eastward, and came to a place which was called Ablom, by the seashore, and there he pitched his tent, and also his sons and his daughters, and all his household” (Ether 9:3l, emphasis added).

Now, since Omer started from Moron, which was near the Land of Desolation, or the Narrow Neck of Land, and given that the Land of Promise was more narrow than its length, the only direction Omer could have traveled was north—south would have taken him into the hunting preserve filled with all types of wild animals; west would have stopped him at the Sea West; East would have not only taken them to the East Sea, but there would be no reason to state that after reaching hills Shim and Cumorah, that they turned east.

Consequently, Omer went north and after many days, reached the hills Shim and Cumorah. Thus, the hill Cumorah was to the north of Moron, which city was near the Land of Desolation (Ether 7:6), and the Land of Desolation bordered on the south the Narrow Neck of Land (Alma 22:32), and Desolation was so far northward that it bordered on the land which had been peopled and destroyed and lay covered with bones (Alma 22:30).

The four main parts of the Land Northward as reported in the scriptural record

 

In addition, the hill Cumorah was so far to the north, beyond the land of bones, that it was far from the Narrow Neck of Land, contrary to the view of several Theorists, who need to alter this reality to validate their models and maps. Mesoamerican theorists place the hill Cumorah about 25 miles along the north coast (their east coast) from their Narrow Neck.

However, while Sorenson’s map shows the Land of Many Waters more than three hundred and fifty miles from his hill Cumorah, Mormon states that: “We did march forth to the land of Cumorah, and we did pitch our tents around about the hill Cumorah; and it was in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains” (Mormon 6:4).

On the other hand, the Heartland theorists have their hill Cumorah far to the east of their Land of Promise, to the south of their East Sea, and south of their Narrow Neck, Narrow Pass, and Narrow Passage—none of it is in their Land Northward. In addition, the Great Lakes theorists have their Land of Many Waters (Finger Lakes) in their Land Southward, which is also where they have their hill Cumorah.

Peru. In the area of the Land of Many Waters in Ecuador (Land Northward) are over 237 individual lakes, ponds, springs, rivers, waterfalls, and other bodies of water. Many of Ecuador’s 2,000 rivers run through the area shown above on the map as the Land of Many Waters. In fact, the largest lake in Ecuador and the largest waterfall are both only about five miles south of the hill Cumorah (Mt. Imbaburo).

The Land of Many Waters with Mt.Imbaburo (Cumorah) shown toward the top

 

The land described earlier, that Limhi’s expedition reached, “having traveled in a land among many waters” (Mosiah 8:8) refers to the area north of the Land of Desolation, and is referred to more accurately by Mormon as the Land of Many Waters, Rivers and Fountains (Mormon 6:4), and would be the area in between tat referred to on modern maps as surrounding the Laguna Velasco Ibarra and the Laguna San Pablo (San Rafael) where there are scores of lakes, swamps, standing water, ponds, etc., as well as major and small rivers, and the fountains from which the water springs, including the major mountain snow melts in the area.

In this area of Andean South America, where the Land Northward would have been located, north of the Bay of Guayaquil (Mormon’s small or narrow neck of land), and a little south of Quito, is located an area that even on ancient maps of the area is called in ancient Quechua, the “Land of Many Waters.” Here, in what is today labeled the “lagoons of Ozogoche” or the “Ozogoche Lakes,” in the center of the highlands of Ecuador, and important because their waters feed the Pastaza River, which flows into the Amazon River.

Here in the central Andes is the province of Chimborazo where extraordinary wildlife, floriculture, archaeological and cultural landscapes are found, with more than 327 lagoons, lakes and ponds, among which are some “forty-five natural water springs that are in the Sangay National Park,  (where is also found the newly discovered Pyramid of Punay) which offer tranquility and peace in this remote culture of the unique grasslands in the Andean highlands.” 
    This wet and cold region, covering an area 2,000 square miles, is considered a “mysterious and isolated place,” in an area of Wetlands—a high, treeless plateau called a paramo. These natural fountains, or springs as they are known today, are the sources of more than sixty lakes, lagoons, rivers, and waters scattered across the region, nestled at 12,000 feet in Ozogoche among volcanoes and differing elevations of the Andean peaks that even today isolates Ecuador’s remote and vast natural beauty. Within this land of many waters is found countless valleys, lagoons, small waterfalls, rivers, and dense vegetation, and numerous springs that feed the various water ways from underground aquifers.

 

(See the next post, “The Absolute Necessity of Matching Scripture – Part XII,” for the continuation of the list of items regarding the matching of the scriptural record)