Historical/Culture: Although this account is highly compressed, it contains some clues about the family’s travels. Nephi notes that, after traveling for several days, they pitched tents “for the space of a time.” Certainly they had stopped daily for food and rest, and they may or may not have pitched tents each time. Perhaps the tents were more for shelter in the day, rather than at night, since it was a very common practice to travel by night in the desert and seek refuge in the tent during the day. This stop, however, was for reprovisioning.
Nephi’s phrase—that they stopped for the “space of a time”—suggests a pattern of traveling several days, then stopping to store up provisions. This pattern is consistent with the marginal resources of the area through which they were traveling and the periodic location of the halts. They would travel for several days, living on their gathered provisions, then stay for several days (or more) at a locale with more abundant water and food. This may indicate a change in their travel pattern. After they departed from Shazer, they passed through an area where they would be able to stop every night at an established location. The “fertile parts” ended south of Medina where the trail changes from frequent fertile locations to halts that are days or weeks travel between. Beginning at this point, the family would need to spend more time provisioning at each halt.