Limhi’s Search Team and the Twenty Four Plates

Now king Limhi had sent, previous to the coming of Ammon, a small number of men to search for the land of Zarahemla…

And the king said unto him:

“Being grieved for the afflictions of my people, I caused that forty and three of my people should take a journey into the wilderness, that thereby they might find the land of Zarahemla, that we might appeal unto our brethren to deliver us out of bondage.”

…but they could not find it, and they were lost in the wilderness. Nevertheless, they did find a land which had been peopled; yea, a land which was covered with dry bones; yea, a land which had been peopled and which had been destroyed; and they, having supposed it to be the land of Zarahemla,…

And they were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla.

And they brought a record with them, even a record of the people whose bones they had found; and it was engraven on plates of ore.

And for a testimony that the things that they had said are true they have brought twenty–four plates which are filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold. And behold, also, they have brought breastplates, which are large, and they are of brass and of copper, and are perfectly sound. And again, they have brought swords, the hilts thereof have perished, and the blades thereof were cankered with rust; and there is no one in the land that is able to interpret the language or the engravings that are on the plates.

…returned to the land of Nephi, having arrived in the borders of the land not many days before the coming of Ammon.

…but returned to this land, having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel.