The river Sidon area includes the land of Zarahemla and the land of Manti and the smaller lands of Gideon, Jershon, Noah and several other smaller lands. Within most of these lands there was a city with the same name, such as the city of Zarahemla within the land of Zarahemla. Then to add to the complexity, the record states that one of these lands, the land of Zarahemla, in its largest configuration, “was nearly surrounded by water” (Alma 22:32). These overlapping and nested places can be confusing to readers of the Book of Mormon. We find it helpful to compare these graduated lands and cities to the relationships between the city, county and state of New York or the city and county of Salt Lake and the larger state of Utah. Thus the city of Zarahemla was surrounded by a land of Zarahemla (like a county) and a still larger land of Zarahemla (like a state) which extended to the sea east and sea west. Within this larger land of Zarahemla there were numerous smaller lands (like counties), many with a city of the same name. These smaller lands were not too wide, about the distance of a day’s journey—some 10 to 15 miles—similar to the size and spacing of counties in the early settlement of North America, and for the same reason: to accommodate a civil spatial organization based on the limited range of slow modes of travel. At times, the Lamanites occupied sea coast locations on the west and east of the larger land of Zarahemla, leaving the smaller interior area centered on the city of Zarahemla to Nephite settlement (Alma 22:28–29). Most often, the Book of Mormon text is referring to this smaller interior area when it says, “the land of Zarahemla.” This scaled and nested naming of lands holds true for other major Book of Mormon lands. There are two lands of Bountiful mentioned in Alma 27:22, where it states, “the land of Jershon, which is on the east by the sea, which joins the land Bountiful, which is on the south of the land Bountiful.” The larger land of Bountiful—the last named—extended “even from the east unto the west sea,” with a smaller land of Bountiful within its borders (Alma 22:33). Between adjoining Book of Mormon lands there were stretches of territory of some width, called “borders” (see the sidebar, Borders).