6lO SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



from many ages past. They said that they had received a tradition 

 from their ancestors that a man of divine origin, child of the Sun, 

 had brought or set it on that spot. That might be, according to 

 appearances ; and the Indians of ancient days reckoned by their 

 quipos, which is their mode of reckoning, that some one of the Holy 

 Apostles had passed through there preaching the Holy Gospel to 

 the natives of those regions, and had left it there for a sign as testi- 

 monial and memento ; and as these tribes had no written language, 

 nor any histories but their quipos, with the long passage of time 

 the certainty or actual facts of the event, have been forgotten. There 

 is much that might be written about this, did it not lead us from our 

 purpose ; let it suffice, for the greater assurance and veneration of 

 such a sainted relic, to mention the miracles which God has wrought 

 by its means among these new Christians to confirm them the more in 

 our Holy Faith. 



1623. The village of Copacabana also belongs in this fortunate 

 province ; here stands that mysterious and miraculous image of Our 

 Lady of Copacaba (sic), marvelous sanctuary of that country. Chance 

 was, as the Indians of that province relate, that in that village lived 

 an Indian sculptor, a good and sincere Christian ; among other images 

 he had made this miraculous image of Our Lady, and took it along 

 with others, to sell his handiwork at some fairs, which they call gatu 

 there. But whether this image was not well made, or through Divine 

 Providence and the just judgments of God, he found nobody to 

 buy it — His Divine Majesty having ordained for His greater glory 

 and that of His Most Holy Mother, that that most holy image should 

 remain in its own place, where it was made, in order to work miracles 

 through it for the conversion of those tender Christians, to be a 

 comfort and recourse for them in all their afflictions and necessities, 

 and that the sight of the mercies which He showed them by its means, 

 should finally abolish the idolatries which still prevailed among some 

 of them. 



The good Indian, seeing that he could not sell the image, product 

 of his handiwork, in the numerous places where he had taken it, 

 brought it back to his village; and reflecting on certain cares which 

 were besetting him, he resolved to place it in the church in his village, 

 and so told Her, saying : "Mother of God, I am only a poor Indian ; 

 I cannot accomplish anything more ; You are powerful, according 

 to what the Fathers and Christians tell us, and can make Yourself 

 very lovely and beautiful, as You are in Heaven ; may God Your 

 Son and Our Lord work in this country with us through You many 

 miracles and mercies." And when he had finished this conversation 



