Mormon concludes that the Lamanites are cultured and powerful; they have begun to “wax great.” Of course they are still “cunning” and delight “in all manner of wickedness,” because Mormon sees them only as the enemy, even while he acknowledges, begrudgingly, that they are to be reckoned with.
Mormon incorrectly notes that it is only at this point that they “began to trade.” Of course their civilization had developed as described because of trade, even if they were focused only on necessities for warfare like obsidian. Anthropologist Donald E. Brown, after an extensive cross-cultural population study, has concluded that trade is so prevalent among virtually all societies that it must be deemed a human universal.
Possibly Lamanite trade skills improved because of Amulonite knowledge and their new skills in keeping records; but it is not possible that they had never traded before. Such an assertion is, however, consistent with Mormon’s attitude that anything valuable in Lamanite culture was “stolen” from the Nephites through the Amulonites.