.:«††&####                                          ####&††«:.
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.:«††&####                                          ####&††«:.
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.:«††&####                                          ####&††«:.
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.:«††&####             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.          ###&††«:..
.:«††&####                                          ####&††«:.
..:«††&###                                          ###&††«:..
.:«††&####                                          ####&††«:.
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.:«††&####                                          ####&††«:.
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