Questions That Have to be Answered About the Land of Promise – Part V

Continuing with the last post where the first twenty questions were asked and answered. The following begins with question 21:

Question 21: “Where can two unknown animals of great value to man be found in the Western Hemisphere?”

Answer: Unknown meaning unknown to Joseph Smith in 1829, so he had to use the original word from the plates—cumoms and cureloms. As for the animals, Moroni sums up various statements in the Ether record by inserting “they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and cumoms” (Ether 9:19). Elephants, horses and asses are considered beasts of burden, which is synonymous with pack or work animal, such as draft animals. The strength of horses, elephants and oxen is used in pulling carts, wagons and logs, threshing grain, trampling, supplying irrigation, etc. Mostly, they are animals used for packing, carrying, and hauling. Thus, for any animal to be near-equal value with an elephant, as Moroni stated, it would have to be domesticated and of some similar worth. This would eliminate all of the suggestions that Theorists have tried to come up with to try and validate their specific Land of Promise models. The only animals in the Western Hemisphere that would qualify as more useful than horses and asses, and on a par with the elephant, are the two Andean area species of Llama and Alpaca.

The llama and alpaca, both camelids and beasts of burden, and extremely useful to the ancient and modern Peruvians, who use both animals for their wool, for food, and for their labor. They are descended from the wild and undomesticatable vicuña and guanaco (shown above)

Question 22: “Where is there a land in the north containing “many waters, rivers and fountains?” (Mormon 6:4)

Answer: Perhaps the key word Mormon uses is “fountains.” Obviously, “many waters” could be any area of lakes, lagoons, loughs, ponds, or other major expanse of water. The term “rivers” is self-explanatory. However, the word “fountains” is often misunderstood. In this sense, fountain, is some type of water source that “spurts or cascades into the air.” More accurately, it is a spring or source of water—that is, the origin, source or head of a stream, the point of origin or dissemination of a water flow, such as a river or water course. Clearly, the “land of many waters” found in the Land Northward was not merely standing water, such as large lakes claimed by the Great Lakes theorists, nor just rivers as claimed by numerous other location theorists, but had to be an area, evidently at a high elevation, where the waters sources originated—an area of lakes and rivers, but most importantly an area of springs and water sources, whether springing out of the ground, or from melting snow, it was a location of the source of the “many waters” found there. It is interesting that such a land is found in South America, in Ecuador (what would be the Land Northward) that even on very old maps was called “Land of Many Waters.” It might be of interest to know that this “Land of Many Waters” was located in the “Land of Cumorah,” and by the “Hill Cumorah” (Mormon 6:4), however, there is no such “springs or fountains” located around or near the Hill Cumorah in upstate New York. Nor is there any other area in North or Central America which fits the description of “waters, rivers and fountains” that could be found in a Land Northward. In fact, the rivers of Ecuador are an important part of the nation's geography and economy. Most of the over 2,000 rivers and streams have headwaters in the Andes mountain range, flowing from there either westward toward the Pacific Ocean or eastward toward the Amazon River.

The important river network of Manatbi Province in Ecuador where numerous rivers begin. River Quininde, which belongs to river Esmeraldas, originates towards the north west of the canton of Chone and continues towards the east and north, replenished by several rivers, the most important being Piojito and Mongoya. The area's most important river is Rio Chone (which becomes an estuary), whose main tributaries are Mosquito, Garrapata and San Lorenzo , Tosagua and Calceta. The river basin nourished by these rivers is one of the most important and most fertile in the province. Other important rivers are Jama, Mariano and Canoa. On much older local maps, this area was labeled Tierra de muchas aguas (Land of Many Waters). Many homes are constructed on bamnboo stilts to keep out the flooding waters

Question 23: “Where was the city of Nephi located, and what evidence is there of a temple and a tower there as the scriptural record states?”

Answer: The City of Nephi, in the Land of Nephi, was located in a high mountain valley, since the Lamanites were always “going down” to the Land of Zarahemla, and Ammon, after going up to the Land of Nephi from Zarahemla (Mosiah 7:3-4) had to “go down to the Land of Nephi” from the hills overlooking the City of Nephi (Mosiah 7:6) In addition, the Temple built in the City of Nephi (Nephi’s temple like Solomon’s) was on some type of ridge or hill overlooking the general city or valley since King Noah “Built a tower near the temple, a very high tower, even so high that he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook the land of Shilom, and also the land of Shemlon, and he could even look over all the land round about” (Mosiah 11:12). This would suggest two things: 1) The tower was at some considerable height elevation, and 2) The tower itself was quite high. Consequently, we would need to find an area where a temple of stone was built, that it was high enough to see into adjacent valleys, was in a mountain valley itself, and where a tower had been built. That would generally be a tall order, but one such place can be located; however, it is not in the Great Lakes area, Eastern U.S., heartland or Baja California, where no stone ruins have ever been found, nor in the Yucatan among the fabled Mayan ruins for the land is very flat (having recently driven over it I can say it is as flat as a pancake).

Top: Satellite view of the temple site and tower base at Sacsayhuaman overlooking Cuzco in Peru. Note the circle in the lower center where the tower stood when the Spanish arrived; to the left is the temple and running across the top is the jagged three layer walls that circle the site; Bottom: the circular base of the tower that once stood four or five stories and overlooked the entire valley below including the three entrances into the valley from other areas

However, in the Cuzco valley of Peru, just north of Lake Titicaca, on a ridge are the ruins called Sacsayhuaman, where a Temple site looks out over the valley, and next to it was a large tower, now only the base footings can be seen, but was still standing  when the Spanish conquerors arrived and described by them as being round and about four or five stories high, with an open lookout area situated on top. From its vantage point, the two main entrances to Cuzco can be seen, one entering from the east, the other from the south. The stonework of the area still standing is remarkable, and considered one of the great engineering fetes of the Americas. According to Garcilaso de la Vega, the Spanish chroniclers from the Viceroy of Peru, wrote that on the top of the three "walls" or "bulwarks" there were three strong towers disposed in a triangle. The main tower was in the middle and had a circular shape, it was named Moyoc Marca (Muyuq Marka), the second one was named Paucar Marca, and the third Sacllar Marca (Sallaq Marka); the last two ones were rectangular. This is the remaining base of a tower discovered in 1934 at the top of the Temple of Sacsayhuaman. The Muyuqmarka consists of three concentric, circular stone walls connected by a series of radial walls. There are three channels constructed to bring water into what many scientists consider to be a reservoir. A web-like pattern of 34 lines intersects at the center with a pattern of concentric circles.

Left: The jagged three tier walls that guarded the Temple; Right: One of the entrances into the Temple area, considered in Inca times as the most important temple in the realm—they called it Coricancha (corral of gold) and the Spanish said that “its opulence was fabulous beyond belief

(See the next post, “Questions That Have to be Answered About the Land of Promise – Part VI,” for the continuation of these all-important questions)