With the phrase "the whole face of this land" (Mormon 8:8), the reader might assume that Moroni is referring to just the land near where he was staying. However, when Moroni verifies in Mormon 8:2 that "the Nephites who had escaped into the country southward were hunted by the Lamanites until they were all destroyed," he gives us an indication that somehow he was receiving knowledge about what was going on in places quite a distance from either the hill Cumorah or from the location where he was in hiding. How Moroni received that knowledge is not told to us. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]