Mormon relates a "small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward" with "the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite" from "the east to the west sea" (Alma 22:32). According to Jerry Ainsworth, the "small neck of land" was also called the "narrow pass." The pass did not run from the east sea to the west sea, but from the east to the west sea. The pass did not extend the entire length of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which would be from north to south, not from east to west. The narrow pass ran from the direction east, then made a turn and ended up at the west sea (see illustration). Interestingly, a city located at the center of this pass today is called Paso Real--the "Royal Pass." Ainsworth notes:
I always asked myself why Alma said in his day that "a Nephite" could walk the narrow pass in a day and a half. That implies a Lamanite could not. The answer came to me many years after reading Alma's description. In 1993, Esteban and I attempted to walk the narrow pass. Once you try it, it becomes obvious why only "a Nephite" could walk it in a day and a half. The pass runs between two small mountain ranges and is entirely at sea level. It is also one of the hottest parts of Mexico. To walk such a distance in such oppressive climate, a person would have to be acclimated to laboring in temperatures of 90 to 100 degrees. In Alma's day, the Nephites had lived in the lowlands. . . . When one is accustomed to working in 65 degree temperatures [as the highland Lamanites were], one cannot walk, carrying all essentials, at the same rate as one who is used to the hotter climate.
[Jerry L. Ainsworth, The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni, p. 168]
Alma 22:32 It was only the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite ([Illustration]): Map 30. Narrow Pass Runs from the East to the West Sea. [Jerry L. Ainsworth, The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni, p. 169]
Geographical [Theory Map]: Alma 22:32 A [Day and a Half's Journey] (4th Year)
“A Day and a Halfs Journey for a Nephite”
Alma 22:32 states the following:
And now, it was only the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea
And thus the [general] land of Nephi and the [general] land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward.
In an article using some basic assumptions and analysis to construct an internal model of the Book of Mormon, John Clark says:
The Book of Mormon apparently specifies precise travel times for this area [the small neck and the narrow neck]. But the short distances involved (one to one-and-a-half days) cannot be squared with any known isthmus (without special conditions or travel rates being specified).
Clark solves the dilemma by making assumptions based on variable travel speed and terrain concluding with the statement, "The short travel times ['a day and a half's journey for a Nephite'--Alma 22:32; see also 3 Nephi 3:23] for what apparently was a significant distance suggest travel over relatively flat terrain." [John Clark, "A Key for Evaluating Nephite Geographies," in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1, pp. 27-29]
However if, according to Clark, there is a major pass (the narrow pass) running north-south right in the middle of his small (narrow) neck of land, one might wonder how travel could be facilitated from west to east (the width of the narrow neck)? By definition, what defines a "pass" is the inability or obstruction of travel on either side of the "pass." If this pass was of such major importance that it needed to be fortified, and it led into the land northward (rather than leading into the narrow neck), and if the small neck was between the land northward and the land southward, then this implies at least in my way of thinking that there was no easy way around this narrow pass. If such was the case, then in the exact opposite manner of thinking than Clark, I would internally suppose that a day and a half's journey (from the west sea to the east) would be long travel time for what apparently was a minimal distance.
In addition, according to Alma 63:5, not only the narrow pass but the narrow neck "led into the land northward." (emphasis mine) The reader should notice that there is no mention of any restrictions on travel or any internal blockage as there would be if traffic had to channel through a pass. While it is not too far out of line to assume that travel speeds were variable, lacking specific textual notation, who is to judge? Clark can assume "It was flatland" and therefore presume easy travel; yet, it took Balboa and his men 26 days to travel the 50 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific shores of Panama, an average of less than 2 miles per day. Cortez and his men averaged only 10 miles per day in traveling the flat terrain of the Yucatan peninsula. Perhaps an external setting might help tremendously in interpreting the phrase "a day and a half's journey for a Nephite." [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See the commentary on Alma 22:32 "A small neck of land"]
Alma 22:32 A day and a half's journey for a Nephite ([Illustration]): Nahua Couriers or Runners. "The couriers of the ancient Nahuas were tall and well formed and of light complexion. Couriers were exercised in running from childhood and as they grew to manhood their endurance was wonderful and they could run at the greatest speeds for hours." (History of Mexico, Clavigero 1804, 2:235) [Glenn A. Scott, Voices from the Dust, p. 154]
“The Distance of a Day and a Half’s Journey”
Matthew Roper writes that while John L. Sorenson has documented examples of native Mexican runners traveling distances of up to 100 miles in a day, we need not assume that the entire journey was by foot. Assuming that the "narrow neck of land" mentioned by Mormon is the Mexican Isthmus of Tehuantepec, more than half of this distance could have been traveled by water along the Coatzacoalcos River, speeding up the journey considerably.
Mesoamerican historian Ross Hassig notes that in travels by sea from Veracruz to Coatzacoalcos, "canoes were employed to go up the Coatzacoalcos River to Antigua Malpaso, where land transport was employed for the remaining 12 leagues to Tehuantepec. This route was also employed in travelling between Mexico City and Tehuantepec, [because] water transportation was easier than overland travel."
In the mid-19th century, "the products of the Pacific side, destined for the Gulf Coast, [were] first brought down to this place [Antigua Malpaso] for embarkation; and occasional cargoes of goods from Vera Cruz ascend[ed] the river to this point, from whence they [were] carried to the Pacific plains on mules." A similar route used during the same time period followed this route to Suchil at the head of the Coatzacoalcos River and from there down to the city of Tehuantepec along the Pacific coast.
In the Tehuantepec region, light balsa wood rafts are frequently hewn out of trees and used for transportation along the local water routes. "The dexterity with which the Indians manage these balsas (often heavily laden), in passing over terrible rapids and through narrow passages filled with rugged rocks, where even a canoe could not possibly live, is truly surprising." Kamar Al-Shimas notes that various kinds of canoes are also used in this region: When ascending the river the boat is kept within arm's length of the bank, and fifteen miles with a heavily loaded canoe or thirty miles with a light traveling-canoe is accounted a good day's work. In descending the stream, paddles are used, the canoe is kept to the center of the stream to take advantage of the current, and fifty miles is easily accomplished between daylight and set of the sun."
While it was a day and a half journey on the defensive line "from the east to the west sea" (Alma 22:32), it was apparently only a day's journey "from the west sea unto the east" (Helaman 3:7). Although other interpretations are possible, these two passages would make sense if part of that journey was by water, since those traveling eastward would be going downstream and could presumably move much faster with the current than could those journeying upstream. [Matthew Roper, "Travel across the 'Narrow Neck of Land'" in FARMS Update, Number 134, Insights, May 2000, p. 2]
Note* While fifty miles is significant, it is not equal to 130 miles, the distance across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from sea to sea. Some might counter with the fact that the verse in Alma 22:32 says, "from the east to the west sea." However, the Coatzacoalcos River does not even begin until one is midway through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and then it flows toward the north or Gulf coast, not the "west sea." Mormon does note travel by boat in Alma 63:5, and even locates the launching into the west sea "by the narrow neck which led into the land northward." On the other hand, if travel by boat is significant enough for Mormon to mention with respect to Hagoth, one might wonder why Mormon is silent in connecting it with "a day and a half's journey for a Nephite." The only other mode of travel mentioned, other than by foot, has to do with "chariots" and "horses" and is found very close in the text at Alma 18:9. As long as a person is going out on a limb for an explanation, why not propose travel by horseback, even to the point of a "pony express" style journey? While the city of Tehuantepec is not situated on the coast, the "12 leagues" distance from the Coatzacoalcos River which Roper cites would be equivalent to about 36 miles. Such a distance, plus the distance to the Pacific Ocean or "sea," would be quite a journey by foot in half a day. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See Volume 2, Appendix B]
“A Day and a Half’s Journey”
Joseph Allen notes that Alma 22:32 states that "it was only the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea. And thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward." Since it was "only," we may assume that it was not a huge distance. In order to make some maps work which propose the "small neck of land" to be an isthmus (and more especially to be the Isthmus of Tehuantepec) we would have to believe that the Nephites possibly traveled a distance of 175 miles (see illustration), in one and a half days. This would certainly be regarded as a superhuman feat by anyone seriously considering the distance.
Some have suggested that water covered some of the area which is now dry land, thus making the distance across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec less than it is today. This theory, however, must find an explanation for the archaeological sites bordering the seas on both sides of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Sites such as La Venta on the Gulf of Mexico and Juchitan on the Gulf of Tehuantepec predate the statement in Alma 22. From what we know from the culture of the Maya, we can deduce that a day's travel is approximately 10 miles. That would make a day and a half's journey more in the range of about 15 miles.
The "small neck of land" represented a location for a division ("line"?) "between the land northward and the land southward." Both from a Mesoamerican perspective and a Book of Mormon view, we know that major division lines consisted of high mountain peaks. Even today Mexico and Guatemala, and Guatemala and Honduras and El Salvador, and the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas all divide their boundaries by a mountain peak or a mountain range. One side of the volcanic peak or mountain range beginning at the top belongs to one and the opposite side from the top down belongs to the other. As we trace the division between the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, we see that we are following the top of a mountain range. One possibility for the "line" dividing Bountiful and Desolation is along the Pacific coast of southern Mexico at the southern end of the division between Oaxaca and Chiapas (see illustration). Here we find on the east a pre-classic archaeological site called Perseverancia. We can then travel 15 miles directly west to the Pacific Ocean (Gulf of Tehuantepec) and we come to a town called Paredon. The word "Paredon" means "big wall." To this day, there exist the remains of an ancient wall or fortification coming from the ocean near the cemetery at Paredon, extending in an eastern direction. Today the Mexican army is stationed in a position between the mountain range on the east and the ocean on the west, thus allowing them to control the area as a legal checkpoint for people coming from Central America to Mexico. Mormon stated that "the Nephites in their wisdom, with their guards and their armies, had hemmed in the Lamanites on the south, that thereby they should have no more possession on the north." (Alma 22:33) [Joseph L. Allen, "How far was 'a day-and-a-half's' journey for a Nephite?" in Book of Mormon Archaeological Digest, Vol. 1/1, Spring 1998, pp. 6-8]
Alma 22:32 And now, it was Only the distance of a day and a half's journey ([Illustration]): Figure 2: This map illustrates the trail between the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of Tehuantepec. The trail covers approximately 175 miles as it weaves between the Tehuantepec Mountains. [Joseph L. Allen, "How far was 'a day-and-a-half's' journey for a Nephite?" in Book of Mormon Archaeological Digest, Vol. 1/1, Spring 1998, p. 6]
Alma 22:32 And now, it was Only the distance of a day and a half's journey ([Illustration]): Figure 3: It is 15 miles from the pre-classic archaeological site of Perseverancia to Paredon. This is the proposed fortification line that made up the "day and a half journey" in the Book of Mormon. [Joseph L. Allen, "How far was 'a day-and-a-half's' journey for a Nephite?" in Book of Mormon Archaeological Digest, Vol. 1/1, Spring 1998, p. 7]