This epistle, which gives an interesting insight into the condition of the times, is found in III Nephi, chapter 4. Lachoneus did not hearken to the epistle of Giddianhi, but perceiving the desperate straits in which his people were placed, issued a proclamation directing them to leave their various homes throughout the two continents, and all gather in one vast host, in a place selected in the lands of Zarahemla and Bountiful, bringing with them everything that would help to sustain the besieging forces of the robbers. The people obeyed, and in the trust of the Lord awaited the coming of the foe. In the latter end of A. C. 18, the armies of the robbers were prepared for the war, and they began to sally forth from the wilderness and the mountains, and from their other strongholds, and to occupy and revel in the deserted homes and lands of the Nephites. But difficulties soon stared them in the face, the greatest of which was the want of food. As the Nephites had removed everything edible, the robbers' only source of supply was the game in the wilderness, which soon proved insufficient. Thus pressed, in the year A. C. 19, Giddianhi gave command to his armies to attack the Nephites. It was in the sixth month of the year (September, we presume), that this command was carried out. Terrible, we are told, was the appearance of the robber hosts. They wore a lamb skin, dyed in blood, about their loins; their heads were shaven, but covered with armor— head-plates, as they are called. When the Nephites perceived them coming they bowed before the Lord in prayer. The robbers, seeing their action, counted it as a sign of fear, and set up a horrible shout and rushed upon them. The slaughter was terrible; never had there been so much blood shed in a single fight since the day that Lehi's children first inhabited the land. At last the Nephites were victorious, and pursued their foes to the borders of the wilderness, giving no
