For some time they had been ascending toward a skyline formed by the crest of a vast ridge, and the surroundings had been growing more windswept and barren.

By degrees the land grew more and more barren and utterly devoid of inhabitants, till at last it merged into desert.

The country grew more barren as they rode, and the only sign of life was an occasional buzzard and many, many rattlesnakes.

The slopes of the Gal Gath'thong range were richly fertile, but as one neared the actual firefalls, the land grew barren and strange and the air hot and dry.

The land about them grew bleak and barren, though once, as Thorin told them, it had been green and fair.

I kept looking for somewhere to stop, but the hills had grown increasingly more barren and rocky as we trudged toward the lower slopes of the Easthorns, which now seemed to get no nearer.

The ground grew more barren by the yard.

As Tatmanat prayed and wailed, the land first grew dry and barren but eventually was watered by a great rain.

During this time, Demeter mourns her absence and the earth grows cold and barren.

The rocks grew more barren, and as the sun rose the land turned to fire.