In Helaman 4:8 it states that "those dissenters of the Nephites, with the help of a numerous army of the Lamanites, had obtained all the possession of the Nephites which was in the land southward." (Helaman 4:8) How do we interpret the words "all the possession . . . in the land southward"? And what does the term "southward" refer to? Southward of what?
(1) In Alma 22:31-33, Mormon states that "the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful." There was also "a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward." And "the Nephites had inhabited the land Bountiful, even from the east unto the west sea" and had "hemmed in the Lamanites on the south." In view of this, perhaps the meaning in Helaman 4:8 is that the Lamanites had obtained "all the possession of the Nephites [except where they were fortifying--in the land of Bountiful] in the Land Southward."
(2) Perhaps terms such as "land southward" are relative directional terms which depend upon different geographical points of reference. Here in Helaman 4:8 the reference point might be the Nephite fortification line. Thus, the Lamanites had obtained "all the possession of the Nephites in the land southward [of the fortification line]." If such is the case, other relative directional terms might involve a sea which is located on the west of a particular reference point, and thus they would be referred to directionally as the "west sea" or "sea west" rather than what we might formally name the West Sea. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See Geographical Theory Maps]