What are the characteristics of the land on each side of the tracks? Which words does Hemingway use to describe the landscape?

In , the man and the
girl are waiting for the train from Barcelona to Madrid at a small railway station in the Ebro
Valley. Hemingway begins by saying that the hills across the valley are long and white,
prefiguring the remark that gives the story its title. This side of the valley is described
merely by the absence of shade and trees, important since the day is so hot. Later the country
is described as brown and dry, contrasting with the whiteness of the hills.

When the girl walks to the end of the station, she sees fields of grain and trees along
the banks of the Ebro. The river is visible through the trees.

The landscape,
therefore, is one of a broad river valley, mostly dry and brown, with trees and grain along the
river banks and long white ranges of hills in the distance. The plainness of the landscape
complements the spare, unadorned description.