.^«††$§¶@#                                          #@¶§$††«^.
.^«††$§¶¶@                                          @¶¶§$††«^.
.....^††$¶                                          ¶$††^.....
.^«††$§§¶@                                          @¶§§$††«^.
.^«††$§¶@#                                          #@¶§$††«^.
.^«††††§¶@             ................             @¶§††††«^.
......«†§¶             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.          §†«««^....
.^«††$§¶@#                                          #@¶§$††«^.
.^«††$§¶@#                                          #@¶§$††«^.
.«††$§¶@##                                          ##@¶§$††«.
.^^^^^«††§                                          §††«^^^^^.
.^«††$§¶@@                                          @@¶§$††«^.
.^«††$§¶##                                          ##¶§$††«^.