The fertile wilderness is the more productive country through which Lehi’s family traveled after leaving the Valley of Lemuel, on a south-southeast course in the borders near the Red Sea. Beyond Shazer they kept to “the most fertile parts of the wilderness,” hunting with bows, arrows, slings, and stones to feed their families (1 Nephi 16:14).
They followed the directions of the ball, later called the Liahona, which led them through the more fertile parts of the wilderness and worked according to the faith and diligence they gave it (1 Nephi 16:16).
While hunting, Nephi broke his steel bow, and his brethren’s bows had lost their springs, so the company obtained no food and suffered for want of it. Nephi made a new bow out of wood and an arrow out of a straight stick (1 Nephi 16:23), then went up the mountain by the directions on the ball and killed wild beasts, obtaining food for the families (1 Nephi 16:31).