342 A VOYAGE TO Book VL 



ninir. And indeed so many stories are told on this 

 bead, that one is at a loss what to believe. Without 

 giving credit to, or absolutely rejecting- all that is re- 

 ported, leaving every one to the free decision of his 

 own judgment, I shall only relate the most received 

 opinion here. The town of Caloto, the territory of 

 which contains a great number of Indians, of a nation 

 called Paezes, was fbrnicrly very large, but those 

 Indians suddenly assaiflting it, soon forced their way 

 in, set fire to the houses, and massacred the inhabi- 

 tants : among the slain was the prie>«t of the parish, 

 who was particularly the object of their rage, as 

 preaching the gospel, with which they were sensible 

 their savage manner of living did not agree, exposing 

 the folly and wickedness of their idolatry, and laying 

 before them the turpitude of their vices. Even the 

 bell of the church could not escape their rancour, as 

 by its sound it reminded them of their duty to come 

 and receive divine instruction. After many fruitless 

 endeavours to break it, they thought they could do 

 nothing better than to bury it under ground, that, by 

 the sight of it, they might never be put in mino of 

 the precepts of the gospel, which tended to abridge 

 thefn of their liberty. On the news of their revolt, 

 the Spaniards in the neighbourhood of Caloto armed; 

 and, having taken a smart revenge of the insurgents 

 in a battle, they rebuilt the town, and having taken 

 up the bell, they placed it in the steeple of the new 

 church; since which the inhabitants, to their great 

 iov and astonishm.ent, observed, that, when a tempest 

 appeared brooding in the air, the toiliug of the bell 

 dispersed it ; and if the weather did not every where 

 grow clear and fair, at least the tempest discharged it- 

 self in some other part. The news of this miracle 

 spreading every where, great solicitations w^crc made 

 for procuring pieces of it to make clappers for little 

 bells, in order to enjoy the beneiit of its virtue, which. 

 In a country where tempests are both so dreadful and 



•ircquent. 



