Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/365

Rh that the above reverend fathers describe the apostle with the staff in the hand, the black cassock girt about the waist, and all the other trappings which distinguish the missionaries of the society. The credit which these histories obtained at the commencement, was equal to that bestowed on the cross of Tarija, which remained in the predicament of being the one St. Thomas had planted in person, in the continent of America. Since the Holy Church, our mother, has not determined on the miraculous of this description, nor positively ordained its belief, we have judged it necessary to explain this point, as was indeed prescribed by the criterion of an historical relation. For this case, and for other similar ones, we venture to repeat what has been said by an unprejudiced and intelligent Spaniard: De las cos as mas seguras lamas segura es dudar. But it is time that we should return to the especial purpose of our history, craving pardon for the prolixity of the digression we have been induced to make, in favour of truth and justice.

Among the fifty men who accompanied Fuentes, was a Dominican friar, named Francisco Sedano, who performed the fun6tion of chaplain, administering the sacrament to the Spaniards, and effecting, although with but little success, the conversion of the Chirihuanos. He founded a convent of his order,