Water That Went Hard

In Barahona the rough stone arrives at small workshops. A saw cuts the lump open. The grey outside falls away, and there is the blue inside, in bands and swirls with little white islands, like a photo of the sea from very high up.

The stone is called pectolite. Grey and white pectolite is found in many countries. Blue pectolite is found only here. People have looked for another place for fifty years and they have never found one.

The colour probably comes from copper inside the crystal. We do know how the stone was made. This is old volcanic rock. Long after the lava went cold, hot water moved through the little holes inside it and slowly filled them. So the stone is water that went hard.

The workshop grinds each piece round and smooth, then polishes it until it shines like glass. The darker the blue, the more it is worth. The best of all is called volcanic blue. Polly watches a tray fill up. No two pieces are the same.