known as Ecuador, and had cities there, near the wilderness on the north, known as Nephi or Lehi-Nephi, Shilom, Shemlon, etc. Another reason also causes this view to appear probable; Nephi and his company could scarcely have settled at a point twenty-two days' journey from Zarahemla without their descendants--scattered as they were upon the face of the land--coming in contact with the Zarahemlaites at an earlier date than the days of Mosiah, even though the people of Zarahemla may not have long resided at the point where he found them. It does not appear probable that, if the city of Nephi, or Lehi-Nephi as it is sometimes called, had been the city founded by the first Nephi, there would have been a wilderness so close to it on the north, as there appears from the record to have been, after four hundred years had elapsed. In the description of the boundaries of the lands occupied by the Nephites and the Lamanites (_Alma xxii., 27-32_) it is stated that, "the more idle part of the Lamanites lived in the wilderness, and dwelt in tents; and they were spread through the wilderness, on the west, in the land of Nephi; yea, and also on the west of the land of Zarahemla, in the borders by the sea-shore, and on the west, in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers' first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the sea-shore." Here our two allusions to the land of Nephi, and without desiring to favor any particular theory or to strain the language to sustain any special views, it conveys to us the idea, when taken in connection with other facts contained in the record, that the land of Nephi was, as we have said, an extensive region, embracing at least the west side of the continent with the Pacific shore for some distance to the south, and perhaps embracing within its boundaries the whole of the south continent outside of the limits of Zarahemla. In the same chapter (_verse 34_) the same idea is clearly expressed in the language that "the Lamanites could have no more possessions only in the land of Nephi, and the wilderness round about," and this, too, at a time when the whole continent, south of the line of the land of Zarahemla, was either in possession of the Lamanites, or open to them. It must not be forgotten, however, that what is now known in geography as South America was called Lehi, and North America was called Mulek by the Nephites. (_Helaman vi. 10_). CHAPTER XVIII. Travelers' Descriptions of Land Once Occupied by Nephites--Cradle of an Imperial Race--The Productions of the Land in Modern Times Agree with Description of Same in Book of Mormon--Rapid Recovery from Effects of Disastrous Commotions and Wars Accounted for--Healthy Climate--Remarkable Longevity--Jacob, Enos, Jarom and Omni--Longevity of Indians in Ecuador and Peru.