The word wilderness seems to be used in the Book of Mormon to refer to an uninhabited area or at least to an area only sparsely settled. Thus wilderness could either refer to a desert area (as it apparently does in 1 Nephi 2:4) or to a fertile area but one that is relatively uninhabited (as in 1 Nephi 18:6, 24-25; 2 Nephi 5:7).