Shortly before Jarom died he delivered the sacred plates to his son Omni. Omni kept them for about forty-four years and then handed them to his son Amaron; who in turn transferred them to his brother Chemish. Chemish, when his end drew near, placed them in the hands of his son Abinadom, who afterwards gave them in charge of his son Amaleki. It is very little that we know of the history of the Nephites from the death of Jarom to the time of Amaleki, a period of about one hundred and fifty years. The political records of the nation were engraved on other plates, which were kept by the kings, and as there was little that the ecclesiastical historians felt it necessary to write beyond what Nephi and Jacob had written, their records are very short. From what little we can glean from these writings it is evident that during this era the Nephites had frequent wars with the Lamanites, in many of which they suffered severely. The Lord permitted these wild sons of the wilderness to be a constant scourge to the people of Nephi when they turned away from him; and we fear that the seasons were not unfrequent when they had to be reminded of their duty in this terrible way. It also seems probable that, to avoid the constant incursions of the warriors of the house of Laman, the Nephites had more than once forsaken their homes and retired farther northward into the wilderness. We judge this from the fact that in the days of Amaleki, the land of Nephi appears to have been in or near the region we call Ecuador, a country far distant from the place where Lehi's colony first landed; and it is scarcely consistent with the narrative of the Book of Mormon to believe that Nephi and his little band, when they first separated from their brethren, made a journey of so many hundreds of miles before they established their homes. Then the very fact that the Lamanites almost immediately began to harass them in the new land which they occupied is strong evidence that their first removal was not so distant but that these enemies could, without great difficulty, reach them, a thing that would have been almost impossible if they had gone directly to the far distant region of Ecuador. We now come to the days of the first Mosiah. But before relating the story of his life and reign we will briefly summarize what we know of the history of the Nephites during the first four hundred years of their national existence. They were governed by kings who were the direct descendants of Nephi. These kings were, as a rule, righteous men and wise rulers. The law of Moses was strictly observed, and other good and just laws were enacted to regulate those matters which the Mosaic laws did not touch. The Nephites multiplied greatly, and also grew exceedingly rich in the wealth of this world; while their artisans and mechanics were very expert in the arts and manufactures. They also spread abroad on the face of the land of Nephi and were much scattered.