Potter and Wellington note that while they do not know what the range of the Arabian fauna was in Lehi‘s time one can get an idea of what other animals would have been available to hunt by looking at the animals that inhabit this southern edge of the Rub’al Khali nowadays. In addition to the oryx, these include the sand gazelle, Saudi gazelle, and common gazelle. The range of the wild goat and Arabian Ural may also have extended this far south in earlier times. Nephi must have been both a very skilled and blessed hunter to have constantly supplied meat for the family. [George Potter and Richard Wellington, Discovering the Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript, 2000, p. 169]
“Raw Meat”
The Hiltons claim that eating “raw meat” (1 Nephi 17:2) was nothing new to either Lehi’s group or the desert Arabs. It is interesting to note that the Arabs subsist on a spicy kind of “soft jerky,” dried by the sun, and called by the name ”basterna,“ which interpreted means ”raw meat." [Lynn and Hope Hilton, In Search of Lehi’s Trail, p. 102]
The Hiltons relate the following story:
Nephi’s mention of eating “raw meat” intrigued and repelled us, so we were surprised to find ourselves eating in Cairo when our friend Angie Chukri served us this local delicacy. It was not dripping with blood as we had imagined, but was spiced with garlic and other flavorings and had a pinkish hue. The raw lamb meat, bones removed, is rolled with a rolling pin to expel the blood, the chief cause of decay. After being rolled up, pieces are covered with a paste made of garlic and herbs. It is much like a large bologna in appearance, to be eaten without having ever been near heat or fire. [Lynn A. Hilton and Hope A. Hilton, Discovering Lehi, p. 139]
“The Lord Had Not Hitherto Suffered That We Should Make Much Fire As We Journeyed in the Wilderness”
Nephi notes that the Lord instructed the family not to make much fire (1 Nephi 17:12). Nibley studied the accounts of the early explorers of the Arabian sand, Philby, Thomas, Palgrave and others and concluded that the family did not have fires because of fear of being raided on by unfriendly Bedu tribes. The tradition of mountain raiding parties seems to have been a common one anciently and not just confined to modern explorers. The classical writers lumped these southern tribes together under the collective name “Scenitae” of which Pliny the Elder tells us, “A singular thing too, one half of these almost innumerable tribes live by the pursuits of commerce, the other half by rapine.”
Fear of attack would certainly have been a good reason to avoid making fires, which can be seen for a great distance in the desert. The light travels so far in the clear desert air that it would have been possible to pinpoint the whereabouts on the trail of the family from upwards of 30 miles away.
However, even if they wanted to make fires there is precious little wood available on the southern edge of the Rub’al Khali. Moreover, the tree provided the only shade for travelers and fodder for camels and held a position amongst the tribes of almost mystical and supernatural character. According to Miller and Morris: “In the desert areas where trees are scarce, it was formerly forbidden amongst tribes to damage or cut this tree in any way whatsoever.” [George Potter and Richard Wellington, Discovering the Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript, 2000, pp. 169-173]