King Limhi’s men told about discovering numerous ruins of buildings and bones of men, which lay northward in “a land among many waters” (Mosiah 8:8). According to Jerry Ainsworth, the expression many waters in the Book of Mormon refers to the waters of the sea (see 1 Nephi 13:10-17), as it does in the Old Testament (see mayim rabbim, “many waters,” Isaiah 17:12-13). Land being among the waters of the ocean is a precise description of this land in Mesoamerica. Sections of land were actually dispersed among the waters of the ocean. In fact, an ancient Hebraic meaning of the term ca-mr-ah is equal mixture of land and water.
This area I have been describing, one of water-covered land or marshland extended from the city of Tampico, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and up to the Laguna de Terminos, at the base of the Yucatan Peninsula (see illustration). This area was called Tlapalco, which in the old Nahuatl language means “wet or flooded land.”
When the Spaniards arrived in what is now called Veracruz, they named half of this wet area (from Tampico to the Isthmus) the state of Veracruz. The remaining section of wetlands (from the Isthmus to the Yucatan) was named Tabasco, which has the same meaning as in the Nahuatl language: wet or flooded land. Eighty percent of the state of Tabasco is surrounded by wetlands or water. These were lands among the waters of the ocean, which is precisely how Mosiah 8:8 describes the land.
Satellite photography and other topographical evidence from the area of Tampico on the Gulf of Mexico southward shows that this lands’s early inhabitants (the Jaredites) built terraces, canals, and reservoirs along the eastern seaboard. These were used for capturing and raising fish, transporting foodstuffs, raising crops, etc., and they are a conspicuous feature of a civilized people‘s utilizing the land’s natural water resources. [Jerry L. Ainsworth, The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni, pp. 66-67, 118-119] [However, see the commentary on Helaman 3:5]
Mosiah 8:8 Having traveled in a land among many waters ([Illustration] Map 4 Prior to the landing of the Spaniards, the States of Vera Cruz and Tabasco were known as Tlapalco-“Flooded or Wet Lands” [Jerry L. Ainsworth, The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni, p. 67]
Mosiah 8:8 A land among many waters ([Illustration] Tabasco & Campeche (The land of many waters)] [Merrill Oaks, “Some perspectives on Book of Mormon Geography,” Slide #97]