diff --git a/biomes.lisp b/biomes.lisp
index 7894167..a723d8d 100644
--- a/biomes.lisp
+++ b/biomes.lisp
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
 
 (new-biome desert
 	:ground "deep, drifting sand"
-	:char #\~ :col ':white ;XXX yellow would be better, but shows up brown
-	:features '((cactus 100) (bolder 200)))
+	:char #\^ :col ':white ;XXX yellow would be better, but shows up brown
+	:features '((cactus 100) (boulder 200)))
 
 ;;TODO desert

diff --git a/biomes.lisp b/biomes.lisp
index 7894167..a723d8d 100644
--- a/biomes.lisp
+++ b/biomes.lisp
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
 
 (new-biome desert
 	:ground "deep, drifting sand"
-	:char #\~ :col ':white ;XXX yellow would be better, but shows up brown
-	:features '((cactus 100) (bolder 200)))
+	:char #\^ :col ':white ;XXX yellow would be better, but shows up brown
+	:features '((cactus 100) (boulder 200)))
 
 ;;TODO desert
diff --git a/naledi.lisp b/naledi.lisp
index 4227b4e..f7319f2 100644
--- a/naledi.lisp
+++ b/naledi.lisp
@@ -59,11 +59,12 @@
 	;;TODO implement missing functions
 	(draw-map mapwin me)
 	(draw-player-panel playerwin)
-	(draw-place-panel placewin)
+	(draw-place-panel placewin me)
 	(draw-news-panel newswin))
 
 (defun draw-map (win me)
 	"Draw a portion of the game map in an ncurses window"
+	;;FIXME do I have a transpose bug here?
 	(setf (.color-pair win) '(:white :black))
 	(box win)
 	(setf (.cursor-position win) '(1 1))
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@
 					(if (null p) (add-char win #\space)
 						(if (and (= (first (patch-pos p)) (first me))
 								(= (second (patch-pos p)) (second me)))
+							;;FIXME `me' is not drawn
 							(progn (setf (.color-pair win) '(:white :black))
 								(add-char win #\X))
 							(if (patch-occupant p)
@@ -101,13 +103,17 @@
 	(add-string win "This is the player panel.")
 	(refresh win))
 
-(defun draw-place-panel (win)
+(defun draw-place-panel (win me)
 	"Draw a panel with information about the player's current location."
-	;;TODO
-	(box win)
-	(setf (.cursor-position win) '(1 1))
-	(add-string win "This is the place panel.")
-	(refresh win))
+	(let* ((p (coord (first me) (second me))) (descr (describe-patch p)))
+		(clear win)
+		(box win)
+		(setf (.cursor-position win) '(1 1))
+		(dolist (d descr)
+			(add-string win d)
+			(setf (.cursor-position win)
+				(list (1+ (first (.cursor-position win))) 1)))
+		(refresh win)))
 
 (let ((news '("Press h for help.")))
 	(defun draw-news-panel (win)

diff --git a/biomes.lisp b/biomes.lisp
index 7894167..a723d8d 100644
--- a/biomes.lisp
+++ b/biomes.lisp
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
 
 (new-biome desert
 	:ground "deep, drifting sand"
-	:char #\~ :col ':white ;XXX yellow would be better, but shows up brown
-	:features '((cactus 100) (bolder 200)))
+	:char #\^ :col ':white ;XXX yellow would be better, but shows up brown
+	:features '((cactus 100) (boulder 200)))
 
 ;;TODO desert
diff --git a/naledi.lisp b/naledi.lisp
index 4227b4e..f7319f2 100644
--- a/naledi.lisp
+++ b/naledi.lisp
@@ -59,11 +59,12 @@
 	;;TODO implement missing functions
 	(draw-map mapwin me)
 	(draw-player-panel playerwin)
-	(draw-place-panel placewin)
+	(draw-place-panel placewin me)
 	(draw-news-panel newswin))
 
 (defun draw-map (win me)
 	"Draw a portion of the game map in an ncurses window"
+	;;FIXME do I have a transpose bug here?
 	(setf (.color-pair win) '(:white :black))
 	(box win)
 	(setf (.cursor-position win) '(1 1))
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@
 					(if (null p) (add-char win #\space)
 						(if (and (= (first (patch-pos p)) (first me))
 								(= (second (patch-pos p)) (second me)))
+							;;FIXME `me' is not drawn
 							(progn (setf (.color-pair win) '(:white :black))
 								(add-char win #\X))
 							(if (patch-occupant p)
@@ -101,13 +103,17 @@
 	(add-string win "This is the player panel.")
 	(refresh win))
 
-(defun draw-place-panel (win)
+(defun draw-place-panel (win me)
 	"Draw a panel with information about the player's current location."
-	;;TODO
-	(box win)
-	(setf (.cursor-position win) '(1 1))
-	(add-string win "This is the place panel.")
-	(refresh win))
+	(let* ((p (coord (first me) (second me))) (descr (describe-patch p)))
+		(clear win)
+		(box win)
+		(setf (.cursor-position win) '(1 1))
+		(dolist (d descr)
+			(add-string win d)
+			(setf (.cursor-position win)
+				(list (1+ (first (.cursor-position win))) 1)))
+		(refresh win)))
 
 (let ((news '("Press h for help.")))
 	(defun draw-news-panel (win)
diff --git a/world.lisp b/world.lisp
index 087cf5b..51db293 100644
--- a/world.lisp
+++ b/world.lisp
@@ -109,6 +109,8 @@
 
 ;; TOPOGRAPHY FUNCTIONS
 
+;;XXX Do I still need these?
+
 (defun print-topography (&optional (stream T) (world *world*))
 	"Print a text representation of the world and each patch's biome"
 	(dolist (row world)
@@ -123,6 +125,9 @@
 	(with-open-file (tf file-name :direction :output)
 		(print-topography tf)))
 
+
+;; WORLD CREATION FUNCTIONS
+
 (defun get-patch-feature (patch)
 	"Find a random feature (or none) to occupy this patch."
 	(let ((flist (biome-features (patch-biome patch))))
@@ -173,3 +178,15 @@
 		(dotimes (s (round (/ (expt size 2) 2000)))
 			(generate-stream (random size) (random size) world))
 		world))
+
+(defun describe-patch (p)
+	"Return a list of lines describing this patch."
+    (list (string-upcase (biome-name (patch-biome p))) ""
+		(format NIL "~A / ~A" (first (patch-pos p)) (second (patch-pos p)))	""
+		(format NIL "The ground here is ~A." (biome-ground (patch-biome p)))
+		(when (patch-occupant p)
+			(format NIL "There is a ~A here." (.name (patch-occupant p))))
+		(when (patch-items p)
+			;;FIXME we will be dealing with instances here, not names...
+			(format NIL "The following items are here:~A *~A" #\newline
+				(string-from-list (patch-items p) (format NIL "~% *"))))))