Besides Cumorah, several other hills come prominently to the foreground in Nephite history. There were the hills Riplah and Amnihu, near the river Sidon, in the neighborhood of which desperate battles were fought in the days of Alma, resulting, in both instances, in victory to the hosts of the Nephites. Again there was the hill Manti. It also was near the Sidon; on its top Nehor was executed for the murder of the aged Gideon. Then there was Mount Antipas on whose summit Lehonti and the recalcitrant Lamanites gathered when they refused to give heed to their king's war proclamation. It was situated somewhere within the borders of the Lamanites, near Onidah, the place of arms. There was also a hill Onidah in the land of Antionum, upon which Alma preached to the Zoramite apostates. When perusing the Book of Mormon we have sometimes inclined to the opinion that before the time of the crucifixion of Christ the Andes and other ranges of mountains existed in a much more modified form than at present. We have been led to this conclusion from the fact that no high mountains or stretches of rugged mountain country such as at present exist in Chili, Peru, Ecuador and the United States of Columbia, are suggested by the narrative. Individual hills such as we have drawn attention to, are occasionally mentioned, showing that the country was of diversified altitude; but we have little or nothing to lead our minds to the contemplation of the stupendous peaks and everlasting hills that characterize this region now-a-days. It is also somewhat singular that no reference is made to any rivers in the regions where the Orinoco and Amazon now course in their vast volume to the Atlantic. Our only answer is that the Book of Mormon is primarily a religious record, that the geographical and topographical references are only incidental, and consequently no special importance can be placed on what is not mentioned. Perhaps, also, these rivers, as suggested in the case of the Sidon, ran in different channels, and possibly with a less volume of water then than now. One of the most important places in Nephite history, for four or five hundred years, was the river Sidon. It was their great highway, more to them than the Mississippi is to this country or the Thames to England. Along its banks were situated their capital and other prominent cities. Its valleys were the most densely populated portions of the land. It was also the grand trunk road to the land of Nephi, and adown its banks poured the hosts of the dark skinned invaders when they forced their way into the land of Zarahemla. To tell all that took place on its borders would be to rewrite the history of the Judges, and to include much of the annals of the kings and the story of the Messianic dispensation.