According to Hugh Nibley, Nephi’s descriptions of Lehi’s dreams provide “over a dozen vivid little snapshots or colored slides of the desert country that show that somebody who had a hand in the writing of the Book of Mormon actually lived there.” Nibley explains that the first picture is of Lehi himself, a lone traveler in “a dark and dreary waste,” and that this image—this nightmare—commonly haunted the early Arab poets. In Arabic poetry the “large and spacious field” symbolizes release from fear and oppression. The tree is such as one would find in the garden of kings. Records reveal that the Persian king and others had trees made of pure silver to represent the tree of life, and nowhere on earth is a living tree met with more reverence than in the deserts of Arabia. In fact, Nibley states that in Arabia, “certain trees are regarded as holy because of their life-giving propensities.” These images, in addition to many others from Lehi’s dream, portray a complete panorama of the Arabian desert country—a view which Joseph Smith had never seen. (See Echoes, 470–472.)