In Alma 22:9 we find reference to a "land on the northward" and a "land on the southward." According to Verneil Simmons, the terms "northward" and "southward" are always used in reference to the lands that lay on opposite sides of that narrow land connection. A definite "north" and "south" is used when reference is to specific lands or cities, but when writing about the land of Desolation it is always "northward," possibly referring to the fact that it lay to the northwest. Neither Egyptian nor Hebrew had a word for such a direction. They had to use the expression "north and west" or conversely, "south and east." Perhaps the Nephites had coined a term which could be expressed in English as "northward" or "southward." The terms do not occur on Nephi's Small Plates; presumably the writers had no need for such a term while in the land of Nephi. But Mormon, in his abridgment, uses the terms consistently to refer to the lands lying north and south of the "narrow neck." [Verneil W. Simmons, Peoples, Places And Prophecies, p. 111]
Alma 22:31 Thus, the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful ([Illustration]): Land of Desolation. Site of Mulekite first landing. [Joseph L. Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, p. 204]