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Source:Echoes:Ch5:27:Old world Bountiful - mists
S. Kent Brown: Lehi's desert journey: Old World Bountiful:Mists
The mention of mists brings us back to Lehi's dream, noted earlier. To be sure, inhabitants experienced mists in desert regions, a mixture of dust and fog. And it may be these that Lehi envisioned in his dream.115 On the other hand, the mists of Lehi's dream could certainly anticipate the mists that build along the coasts, particularly in Dhofar during the monsoon season, an aspect that Joseph Smith could not have known about. In this connection, Janzen writes of a "coastal mist during the summer months" in Dhofar. Against the middle altitudes of the mountains, "the clouds most frequently stack up, giving rise to thick fog near the summits." Because of the weather patterns, Janzen calls the area "a tropical 'mist oasis.'" The increased moisture, as one might expect, means that much more dew forms in the desert areas north of the mountains.116 The main point is that the notation about mists in the Book of Mormon narrative fits an Arabian coastal context.[1]
Notes
- ↑ S. Kent Brown, "New Light from Arabia on Lehi's Trail," in Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon, edited by Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and John W. Welch, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2002), Chapter 5, references silently removed—consult original for citations.