#@#&%††~.,                                          ,.~††%&#@#
&%††~,,,,,                                          ,,,,,~††%&
&†~,,,,,,,                                          ,,,,,,,~†&
#@#&%††~.,                                          ,.~††%&#@#
&%†††..,,,                                          ,,,..†††%&
##@#%††~.,             ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,             ,.~††%#@##
#@#&%††~.,             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.          ,,,,,.††&#
###&%††~.,                                          ,.~††%&###
###&%††~.,                                          ,.~††%&###
&&††††.,,,                                          ,,,.††††&&
##@&%††~.,                                          ,.~††%&@##
##&&%††~.,                                          ,.~††%&&##
@&&†~,,,,,                                          ,,,,,~†&&@