North of the land of Bountiful was the land of Desolation. A west to east defense line separated these two lands and created a major north-south division such that “the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful” (Alma 22:31). The length of this dividing line “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” (Alma 22:32). This line was fortified “against the Lamanites, from the west sea, even unto the east; it being a day’s journey for a Nephite, on the line which they had fortified” (Hel. 4:7). These references indicate that the defense line extended from the sea west to the sea east, and suggest the Nephites used these two constricted or narrow sea coast boundaries to shorten their fortified line which was designed to stop the Lamanites who were trying to gain more territory in the land northward (Alma 22: 32-34).

Thus the land of Bountiful, bordered by a sea on the west and a sea on the east, was adjacent to the land of Desolation, which also extended from the sea west to the sea east. The fortified line between the land of Desolation on the north and the land of Bountiful on the south also extended between these same two seas on the west and the east. These are the same two seas that bordered the land of Zarahemla, including the surrounding Lamanite areas, the narrow strip of wilderness, the land of Nephi and the land of first inheritance on the west and on the east. All six sets of seas carried identical names.

There are three references to a land area called the “narrow neck of land” or “small neck of land,” located in the area between the land of Desolation (the land northward) and the land of Bountiful (the land southward) (Alma 22:32, Alma 63:5, Ether 10:20). Not unlike the “narrow strip of wilderness” which ran from the west sea to the east sea between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Nephi, the “narrow neck of land” was also bordered by a sea on the east and a sea on the west. Its narrow “neck” was the result of the constriction of the land between these two seas.

This “narrow neck of land” was the location where Hagoth, a “curious man,” launched forth his ships “on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation, ... into the west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward” (Alma 63:5). According to this description, the lands of Bountiful and Desolation and the “narrow neck” of land all shared the same sea on the west.

Moroni also describes a singular water feature near the “narrow neck of land” as a place “where the sea divides the land” (Ether 10:20). His description of this body of water as a sea dividing the land would assume the Nephites were able to observe another land mass somewhere across from the “narrow neck of land.” The record does not indicate whether this dividing body of water was part of the sea east or the sea west, but if we assume that the sea west was the expansive ocean crossed by Lehi’s family (with no visible land mass to the west), it would follow that it was a narrower sea east that divided the Book of Mormon lands from another but visible land mass.

Mormon in his abridgment of the Book of Mormon uses a shortened description when referring to the seas on both sides of the small or narrow neck of land: “from the east to the west sea” (Alma 22:32, 33; Hel. 4:7). In order to create a shorter “narrow neck of land” to fit within their overly-wide geographical models, some researchers have suggested that because the word “sea” in this phrase does not follow the word “east,” that “east” refers not to a sea, but to a closer land-based point or place the Nephites called “east.” We believe, however, that Mormon’s shortened description, “from the east to the west sea,” is not unlike the wording, “from the Pacific to Atlantic Ocean,” when referring to the west to east coastal extent of the United States, even though the word ocean is only used once within the phrase to indicate both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.

Mormon, elsewhere in his record, clarifies what is meant by this shortened description, “from the east to the west sea.” He describes Lehi’s army meeting the people of Morianton by the “borders of the land Desolation, ... by the narrow pass which led by the sea into the land northward, yea, by the sea, on the west and on the east” (Alma 50:34). This description of the borders of the land of Desolation implies there was a sea on the west and a sea on the east of the narrow neck of land.

The “narrow neck of land” was also the area that divided the land northward from the land southward. And both the land northward and the land southward are also described as being bordered by a sea west and a sea east (Hel. 11:20). Given all the collateral descriptions of these sea-based boundaries, it is difficult to claim that Mormon’s phrase, “from the east to the west sea,” was not merely a shortened version of the longer phrase, “from the sea east to the sea west.”

Mormon’s abridgment adds another unique feature related to the narrow neck of land: When Lehi’s army intercepted the people of Morianton, Mormon records that “they did head them, by the narrow pass which led by the sea into the land northward” (Alma 50:34). This description of a pass by the sea suggests a narrow pass, with steep-sided mountains on one side and the sea on the other, which would have directed and facilitated travel through the “narrow neck of land” into the land northward. This event involving Lehi’s army took place on the east sea by the narrow neck of land, suggesting that the narrow neck of land was bordered on the east by a sea coast and not an inland point or location (Alma 51:26).