necromancy of Joseph Smith, Jun. searching after Robert Kidd's money, which was buried in Manchester, Ontario county, New York, found the plates of Nephi, which had been buried there one thousand four hundred and twenty-eight years. How long he kept them, we are not informed; but they were taken from him, and hid up again by the Lord, so that no divination, nor legerdemain, will enable him to find them.
"And it came to pass," says Nephi, "that the voice of the Lord spake unto my father, and commanded him, that on the morrow he should take his journey into the wilderness. And it came to pass, that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground, a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles, and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness." Which way the other pointed, we are not told, but probably the way they should not go. If this ball was a compass, as we are hereafter told by the author, many improvements have been made upon that instrument, except in the construction of the negative spindle, since that time. But what is most ridiculous, is, that it was a fine brass ball, and yet the spindles could be seen to traverse in the inside of it. Perhaps Lehi had a stone which favored his vision, and enabled him to look into opaque bodies as well as into futurity.
The revealing stone, and the stone spectacles, will hereafter be described, which will account for many wonderful things, without scarching into the chapter of miracles.
From page 39 to 42, is principally taken up in giving an account of eight year's travels, following the direction of one of the spindles through the wilderness. It traversed eastwardly and southeastwardly, bringing them all safely on the borders of the Red sea, with the exception of Ishmael, who dies in the mean time.
