Camille Fronk cites Doughty in saying that in addition to their duty to carry, deliver, and nourish children, desert women assumed a daunting list of other responsibilities. They collected water, gathered firewood, churned butter, guarded flocks, prepared meals, spun yarn from which mantles were woven to keep the family warm, braided palm matting that covered tent floors, and wove and repaired cords used to secure the tents. Most remarkable, it was considered women’s work to take tents down, load tents and supplies on camels, ensure the security of the children and supplies during transport, and set up tents again when a new campsite was reached. Most tents were made of black goatskins, making them significantly heavy. Doughty described the scene as a Bedouin clan set up a new camp:
The housewives spread the tent-cloths, taking out the corner and side-cords; and finding some wild stone for a hammer, they beat down their tent pegs into the ground, and under-setting the tentstakes or “pillars” (am’dan) they heave and stretch the tent-cloth: and now their booths are standing. The wife enters, and when she has bestowed her stuff [unloading all the supplies], she brings forth the man’s breakfast… . After that she sits within, rocking upon her knees the semila or sour milk-skin to make this day’s butter.
No wonder George Reynolds and Janne Sjodahl observed in their commentary on Lehi’s sojourn in the wilderness that “the wives were not an encumbrance on the road, but [the group’s] greatest help.” (Reynolds and Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1955, 1:165) [Camille Fronk, “Desert Epiphany: Sariah & the Women in 1 Nephi,” in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol. 9, Num. 2, 2000, FARMS, pp. 13-14, 80]