How far did they actually travel? Sorenson suggests an average speed of no more than eleven miles per day, based on comparative estimates for similar situations. Eight days’ travel, then, would position them approximately eighty-eight miles from Mormon, which was another three days (fifteen to forty) miles from Lehi-Nephi. Since they were fleeing from Noah’s army, they certainly would not gone toward Lehi-Nephi (and therefore Shilom), and they apparently were going in the general direction of Zarahemla, since they could continue to Zarahemla from this new location without doubling back.
They reach a location of “pure water,” the phrase used to describe the waters of Mormon. (See commentary accompanying Mosiah 18:5.) As mentioned in the commentary on that verse, the phrase may allude to a Mesoamerican conception that waters from earthly sources are pure.
Variant: The printer’s manuscript and 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon both begin this passage with: “And it came to pass that they fled.… ” This was deleted from all editions from the 1837 through the present.