Before one goes any further into the story of Lehi's group in the New World, it might be wise to establish a geographical model. But how does one go about setting up a standard for interpreting the geographical phrases in the Book of Mormon? Which is more important, internal textual clues or external historical, geographical, and cultural findings? For an expanded discussion on this subject, the reader is referred to Appendix B.
“And We Did Take Our Tents and Whatsoever Things Were Possible for Us”
Nephi records that when they landed in the Promised Land that they went forth upon the land and "did pitch our tents" (1 Nephi 18:23). Later as Nephi is fleeing from their landing area, mention is also made of tents: "we did take our tents and whatsoever things were possible for us" (2 Nephi 5:7). If the "tents" referred to here were the Arabian tents which went with them from Jerusalem to Bountiful (and might have presumably been loaded on their ship), then these tents would have weighed a few hundred pounds (see the commentary on 1 Nephi 2:4). Transporting them would have required beasts of burden. Apparently these kinds of animals were implied by Nephi when he recorded that in the land of promise "there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse" (1 Nephi 18:25). [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
John Sorenson, however, offers some other perspectives on the meaning of "tents":
What was a Nephite "tent"? . . . The term tent is used some 64 times in the Book of Mormon, so the question may deserve attention.
Biblical translators have usually rendered the Hebrew root 'hl to English as "tent"; however, it has a rather wide range of possible meanings. Sometimes it referred to full-fledged tents on the pattern of those used by desert nomads of southwestern Asia; but to semi-nomads like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the term could also mean "hut" as well as "tent." In later usage, as the Israelites became sedentary village or city dwellers, its meanings were extended further. For example, in Psalms 132:3 and Proverbs 7:17 the related word 'ohel means "canopy (over a bed)," while in the New Testament, John 1:14 says literally "he pitched his tent among us" to communicate the thought "he lived among us." A Hittite account has the god Elkunirsha living in a "tent" made of wood. In writings from South Arabia in Lehi's day and also in classical Arabic, languages closely related to Hebrew, the root stood for "family" or "tribe" as well as tent. In the related Semitic language of the Babylonians, a word from the same root meant "city," "village," "estate," or "social unit," and even formed part of the word for bed. . . . Furthermore, Dr. Hugh Nibley reminds us that "throughout the ancient world . . . the people must spend the time of the great national festival of the New Year living in tents." But for this occasion Israelites came to use makeshift booths made of branches, as fewer and fewer of their town-dwelling numbers owned genuine tents. [John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, p. 160] [See the commentary on Mosiah 2:6, 18:34; Alma 2:20, 46:31; Mormon 6:4]