The city of Moroni, which the Nephites established in the east wilderness (Alma 50:13) was "by the sea", which phrase is apparently said of no other city that was built at this time. Does this mean that the city of Moroni was situated right on the coast? In Alma 62:34 there is a puzzling reference; while the text talks about the borders of the land of Moroni, we find the phrase "borders by the wilderness on the east." One might wonder how the city of Moroni could be by the sea (east sea) and still have a "wilderness on the east"? Perhaps the reference point in this verse was the local land of Zarahemla, which point was quite a distance west of the city of Moroni. Thus, the phrase "by the sea" as used in Alma 50:13 would be used in a general sense (relatively "by the sea" in relation to the local land of Zarahemla), and the wilderness area east of Moroni might have been relatively small. We also might ask what the term "wilderness" is designating here? Is it mountains, desert, swampland? The reader should note that in the destruction at the time of Christ, Jesus stated: "that great city Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be drowned" (3 Nephi 9:4). [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See Geographical Theory Maps]