In the original form, the Book of Mormon manuscript apparently contained very little capitalization and punctuation. The Book of Mormon also contains geographical verses with many pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs where the antecedent is difficult to ascertain. Therefore, it is up to any theorist to fully explain each phrase of scripture in detail that refers to geography. One example of the dilemma is found in Alma 22:30-31:
and it bordered upon the land which they called desolation it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed of whose bones we have spoken which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla it being the place of their first landing and they came from there up into the south wilderness. (Alma 22:30-31--emphasis mine)
In order to interpret what this scripture is saying, we not only have to deal with punctuation, but the words "which," "their," "they," "it," and "there" must be linked with the proper noun. One must also decide whether to capitalize "desolation" and "south wilderness." These steps are critical to interpretation. Confusion can result when some theorists assume as correct what past Book of Mormon writings have given us in the way of punctuation, capitalization, or pronoun and adjective interpretation, and when some theorists don't. Therefore, we should be explicit in these matters. Let me demonstrate:
And it [Bountiful] bordered upon the land which they [the Nephites] called Desolation,
it [the land Desolation] being so far northward that it [the land Desolation] came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken, [see Mosiah 8:7-8; 21:25-26]
which [peopled and destroyed land] was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, it [the peopled and destroyed land] being the place of their [the people of Zarahemla's] first landing.
And they [the people of Zarahemla] came from there [the peopled and destroyed land] up into the south wilderness.
Thus the land on the northward was called Desolation,
and the land on the southward was called Bountiful,
it [Bountiful] being the wilderness [of the the destroyed people--the Jaredites] which is filled with all manner of wild animals of every kind, a part of which had come from the land northward for food. [all of which is described in Ether 9:30-32]
[Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
“It Being the Place of Their First Landing”
According to Joseph Allen, the phrase "it being the place of their first landing" (Alma 22:30) has reference to the Mulekites' [the people of Zarahemla's] arrival in the land northward. Allen says that Mulek landed in the Land Northward, which was the area of the heartland of the Jaredites. Sometime later (the Book of Mormon record does not say what year), a group of descendants of Mulek went into the wilderness in the Land Southward and settled in a place they called Zarahemla. Zarahemla was located on the west bank of the River Sidon.
This appears to be consistent with what we see in both the Book of Mormon and Mesoamerica. If the Jaredites of the Book of Mormon are the same people as the Olmecs of Mesoamerica tradition, then the landing of the Mulekites would be along the Gulf of Mexico. If that is the case, then the following from The Lords of Totonicapan may indeed be referring to the Mulekites. This document was written in A.D. 1554 and contains a brief history of the Quiche people and their legendary origins: ". . . they came from where the sun rises, descendants of Israel, of the same language and the same customs." (Recinos and Goetz 1953:170)
This document goes on to relate that the tribes tarried for a time on the shores of a lake, where they built houses; but that did not suit them and they continued their journey. The wording of all the documents mentioned appears to localize these states of the Indian peregrination in the regions of the Laguna de Terminos (Bay of Campeche, Mexico). From there, compelled by the necessity of establishing themselves in a propitious spot and perhaps harried by their enemies, the tribes once more went up the Usumacinta and the Tabasco (Grijalva) Rivers and their tributaries and penetrated into the territory of present-day Chiapas, Mexico, and Peten, Guatemala. After a long journey, they found themselves in the hills and valleys of the interior, the land of Mam and the Volcano of Tacana, on the frontiers of Guatemala and Chiapas. (Ibid, p. 39) [Joseph L. Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, p. 25] [See the commentary on Omni 1:13-16; Mosiah 8:8-11, 25:2]
Alma 22:30 It being the place of their first landing ([Illustration]): The proposed area settled by the people of Zarahemla. [Joseph L. Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, p. 26]
Alma 22:30 It being the place of their first landing ([Illustration]): Map illustrating Jaredite and Mulekite movement from the Land Northward up into the South Wilderness as they correlate with the archaeological movements of the Middle Preclassic Maya from 600 B.C--300 B.C. The map also illustrates the possible movement of Mosiah from the Guatemala Highlands to Chiapas. [Joseph L. Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, p. 77]
Alma 22:30 It being the place of their first landing ([Illustration]): Location of Potonchan. Potonchan is near the present-day City of Veracruz, Mexico. It is the same place where the Spanish conquerors landed in the 16th Century A.D. Disagreement exists among LDS writers as to whether the above-mentioned people who landed at Potonchan were the Jaredites or the Mulekites. LDS writers commonly agree that the Mulekites came from the east across the Atlantic in the 5th Century B.C. and landed among the Jaredites in the Land Northward, or the Gulf of Mexico. (Alma 22:30; Palmer 60) The Mulekite time period correlates to the third age. Those who possessed this New World in this third age were the Ulmecas and Xicalancas; and according to what is found in their histories they came in ships or boats from the east to the land of Potonchan, and from there they began to populate the land. [Joseph L. Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, p. 144]