His feet struck the ground so hard I felt sorry for the black earth.

Around him, the black earth changed slowly to mist and cold.

It lay there close to his hand, silver against the black earth.

Only a brown skull now, the eyes blind with black earth.

And he was back in the black earth again.

The black earth, hard as iron, lay underneath, and nothing else.

Or did his body lie in the rich black earth beneath the trees out there near the great river of which he spoke?

It was a trick that would not go unnoticed on the black earth below.

Myers described the floor as being made of "black, glossy earth".

It was wonderful to be back in the Midwest, with its rolling fields and rich black earth.