The small company from Limhi left the land of Lehi-Nephi to return to Zarahemla. They became lost in the wilderness, passed by Zarahemla, and reached the land of Desolation in the north, the land wherein the final battles of the Jaredites had taken place. Finding the land covered with bones and weapons, they assumed that their kindred in Zarahemla had been destroyed.
Among the ruins in Desolation brought back by the delegation were twenty-four gold plates, the record of the Jaredites written and prepared by Ether. This party returned to Lehi-Nephi only days before Ammon and his brethren were found and captured.