Mormon indicates that between the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla there was a “narrow strip of wilderness” (Alma 22:27). This descriptive phrase parallels the word order of the phrase “narrow neck of land” (Ether 10:2). Both phrases describe a land area that is presumably narrower than the adjacent lands. Following the term “narrow,” each phrase then describes these narrow landforms by using the terms “strip” and “neck,” which characterize the concept of an extended parallel shape, like a bandage strip or a human neck. A “strip” and a “neck” are not shaped like converging points but have a length greater than their width. The last descriptive word of the phrase, “narrow strip of wilderness,” indicates that the land surface was a wilderness and probably not heavily occupied.

According to Mormon’s description, the “narrow strip of wilderness ... ran from the sea east even to the sea west” and divided the land of Nephi from the land of Zarahemla (Alma 22:27). We can assume this sea east and sea west would be the same sea east and sea west that bordered the adjacent land of Nephi to the south because these two sets of bordering seas carried identical names.