.^«††$§¶@# #@¶§$††«^. .^«††$§¶¶@ @¶¶§$††«^. .....^††$¶ ¶$††^..... .^«††$§§¶@ @¶§§$††«^. .^«††$§¶@# #@¶§$††«^. .^«††††§¶@ ................ @¶§††††«^. ......«†§¶ THE ALVAR FIELDS ¶§†«...... .....«††$¶ $$$#@#@#@#@#@$$$ ¶$††«..... .^«††$§¶@# #@¶§$††«^. .....^«††§ FROM NORTH TO SOUTH, THIRTY ODD §††«^..... .^«††$$$§§ KILOMETERS. FROM WEST TO EAST, FOUR §§$$$††«^. .^«††$§¶¶¶ THOUSAND METERS. FROM TOPSOIL TO STONE, ¶¶¶§$††«^. .^«††$§¶@# A FOOT OR TWO. NO ROOTS CAN FESTER, NO #@¶§$††«^. ....^«††§§ DUST CAN LINGER. §§††«^.... ...^††$$$¶ ¶$$$††^... .....^«†$¶ HERE IS EARTH, CLAY, AND STURDY LOW ¶$†«^..... ....^^«†$§ PLANTS. BUSHES FRAME THE STRIP. THE §$†«^^.... .^«††$§¶@# EARTH IS BARE IN PATCHES AS LARGE AS #@¶§$††«^. .^«††$§@## YOU AND ME. ##@§$††«^. .^«††$§¶## ##¶§$††«^. .....^††§¶ CROSS IT TO GET TO THE OCEAN, OR DON'T ¶§††^..... ....^«««†§ TO STAY WHERE YOU ARE. §†«««^.... .^«††$§¶@# #@¶§$††«^. .^«††$§¶@# #@¶§$††«^. .«††$§¶@## ##@¶§$††«. .^^^^^«††§ §††«^^^^^. .^«††$§¶@@ @@¶§$††«^. .^«††$§¶## ##¶§$††«^.