Following are some of the comments or questions we have received from readers:
Comment #1: “I read where there were no draft animals in the Americas anciently, before the arrival of the Spanish. Is that true, since there is no mention of ‘draft animals’ in the Book of Mormon” Beverly R.
Response: The definition of a “draft animal” is “an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks that aids in work or labor. ”Thus, the elephant, ox, and horse are all mentioned in the scriptural record, which are draft or working animals. Using the above definition, a llama can be a draft animal, and since llamas have been extant in Andean South America for thousands of years, and domesticated very early on, at least by 2000 BC, they have performed numerous tasks for the ancients, including hauling, packing, guarding livestock, and other tasks—making them a draft animal.
While llamas, which originated in Andean South America, are basically known for packing, like a donkey, they can (and are) used for pulling light carts. For short distances, llama carts have been used for millennia in South America and are used there currently. In fact, llamas are surprisingly tough and can easily pull a 100+ pound cart with two adults on board for many miles, and not just on the level. They can walk, trot and canter between the shafts and reach speeds of nearly 20mph for short spells. Most llama carts are lightweight two-wheeled steel framed carts but four-wheel carts can also be drawn.
Though we rarely think of llamas as draft animals, they are in reality exceptionally adept at pulling carts. Llamas can be trained to pull carts alone, or in a team. Special lightweight two-wheeled carts designed to be pulled by llamas are widely available and are a wise choice over standard pony carts, since the llama's stride is considerably longer than that of a pony. However, it is possible to drive a standard pony cart pulled by a llama if a special llama harness is used.
Training a llama to pull a cart may take some time, but a well-trained llama can be a skillful and sturdy draft animal. Llamas may be trained to pull carts for pleasure driving or even to compete in obstacle course driving.
Comment #2: “Why wouldn’t the Amulekites have gone west, also? There is no, even semi-logical explanation, why they would have gone east.”
Response: There were no Amulekites—Amulek was a man that befriended Alma, then joined him in preaching. We assume you meant the Mulekites. We also assume you meant “why would they have gone east?”
One of the reasons they went east is because they could not have gone west into the Mediterranean as some theorists claim, since Jerusalem was under siege by the Babylonians at the time Mulek left Jerusalem (probably as a baby or young child). Nebuchadnezzar controlled all of the eastern Mediterranean, including the coasts. The Egyptians, Palestinian coastal groups, and the Phoenicians were under attack by the Babylonians and would not, and could not, have sailed away with someone of the Jerusalem royal family or any other Jews.
Mulek could not have gone north, since that was directly into the Babylonian army and stronghold, and could not have gone south into Egypt since the Babylonians controlled those routes, blocking Egypt, their enemy to the south, from aiding those in Jerusalem. They could not have gone due east, that was into the stark desert where no travelers went and no water holes existed for travel. Their only course was the inland Frankincense Trail that Lehi had earlier taken, going southeast and then down toward the Gulf of Aqaba, far to the east of Egypt. Very likely they paid a passing caravan to take them in, and thus evaded any inspection of Babylonians along the way. This route would have taken them to the same location of Bountiful where Lehi went and from which both departed by ship.
When determining matters such as this, it helps to know something about geography, history, and the conditions between nations at the time.
In addition, once at Bountiful, following the same course of Lehi and Nephi there and evidently building a ship to sail across the many waters as Nephi had done—obviously, the Lord was involved: “And they journeyed in the wilderness, and were brought by the hand of the Lord across the great waters, into the land where Mosiah discovered them; and they had dwelt there from that time forth” (Omni 1:16, emphasis added). They would have followed the same route since that is where the currents and winds flow—they simply would have followed the course of the ocean, especially the route that was the easiest, simplest and most direct requiring the least amount of navigational skill.
Comment #3: “If Zeniff was truly a Nephite, as he claims in Mosiah 9, why did he need to be taught in all the language of the Nephites?” Wally W.
Response: The statement Mormon gives us is: “I, Zeniff, having been taught in all the language of the Nephites, and having had a knowledge of the land of Nephi, or of the land of our fathers' first inheritance, and having been sent as a spy among the Lamanites that I might spy out their forces, that our army might come upon them and destroy them—but when I saw that which was good among them I was desirous that they should not be destroyed” (Mosiah 9:1, emphasis added).
The first part of this statement has to do with the qualifications of Zeniff who was sent to spy on Lamanites in preparation for an attack on them. Thus: 1) He had a knowledge of the Land of Nephi; 2) He spoke the language needed (evidently the Lamanites still spoke their original Hebrew). It is not that Zeniff had to be taught the Nephite language, but that he was qualified to go spy on the Lamanites because having been taught as a child growing up, he could understand the Hebrew language and, evidently, understand the Lamanites speaking to one another as he spied on them.
Comment #4: “I am clearly a novice in winds and currents, but it is clear looking at any map that Lehi sailed down the west side of the Indian Ocean, around the Cape and up the Atlantic coast, crossing toward South America and reaching the Caribbean Sea to land in Florida. Even a novice can find this route without difficulty and is not a difficult route to understand” Randy P.
Response: When looking on a flat map, this route makes a lot of sense; however, flat maps do not show obstacles, and normally do not show wind flow and ocean current directions. In addition, Nephi twice tells us his ship was “driven forth before the wind” (1 Nephi 18:8-9). Thus, such a ship can only go where the wind blows it and the ocean current takes it.
It should also be kept in mind that ships in the 1400s could sail into the wind by moving the yard(s) and sails to adjust the air flow and catch it to fill the sail (tacking). However, Nephi’s ship could only sail forward (driven forth—in 1828 meaning forward, progression or advance). Consequently, making comparisons between 600 BC and 2,000 years later in the 1400s, seems foolhardy.
In addition, it should be remembered that what enormously experienced ship captains and crews accomplished in ships built by professional shipwrights was something that Lehi and Ishmael’s families, who had never been to sea, let alone built a ship or sailed it, could do. That over 3,000 early ships went to the bottom trying to negotiate the extremely dangerous waters you mention around the Cape in Africa seems to have no impact on such thinking. No matter what the Lord teaches, or instructs, even moment-by-moment information, it is still up to the mortal to do it. And sailing in such waters around the Cape of Africa is something that even the most experienced Portuguese seamen of the time (1400s AD), 2,000 years after Lehi sailed to the Land of Promise, was something that his family could have accomplished.
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