As the course of the river Sidon was from south to north, it is but reasonable to conclude that when the words above and below are used, when reference is made to places on its banks or in its neighborhood, that above means south and below, north. This is a very common mode of expression in such cases. MELEK.--The boundaries of this land are very indistinctly stated by the inspired writer of the Book of Alma, for it is in that book alone that it is mentioned. However, two things are positively stated (chapter _viii._), namely, that it was west of the river Sidon, and that it extended westward as far as the narrow strip of wilderness which ran north and south between the mountains and Pacific Ocean. We imagine that its eastern borders touched the land of Zarahemla and from thence it stretched out as far as the country proved habitable, as it appears to have had a large population, judging from the account given of Alma's ministrations (B. C. 82). That it embraced a large district of country is proven by the fact that when Alma had finished his labors in the city of Melek, he traveled three days' journey on the north of the land of Melek before he came to the city of Ammonihah (_Alma viii. 6_). In later years, when it was considered unsafe for the Ammonites to remain longer in Jershon they were removed to Melek, the proximity of which to Zarahemla, as well as its remoteness from the lands of the Lamanites, rendered it admirably adapted as a place of safety for that persecuted people. AMMONIHAH.--When Alma had made the three days' journey spoken of above, he reached Ammonihah the country around which city was called by the same name. From the text of the passage some conclude that Alma traveled northward from Melek, but to us it conveys the idea that the prophet journeyed three days westward along or near the northern boundary of that land. We are confirmed in this opinion by the statement made in another place regarding Ammonihah's proximity to that portion of the wilderness which ran along the sea shore (_Alma xxii. 27_). In Alma (_xvi. 2_), it is stated: The armies of the Lamanites had come in upon the wilderness side, unto the borders of the land, even into the city of Ammonihah. If Ammonihah had been situated three days' journey north of Melek, we suggest that it could not have been near that portion of the wilderness which the Lamanites so easily reached without discovery; for a march due north would have taken them close to, or actually through the lands of Minon, Noah, Melek and Zarahemla, the most thickly populated portions of the country; or, to have avoided these, they must have taken a circuitous route of immense length and great danger. Then when they attempted to retire, their retreat, owing to their great distance from Nephi, would have most assuredly been cut off, as was the case with the Lamanite general Coriantumr under these conditions.