94
VOYAGES
A N D D I S C O V E R I E S OF
CHAPTER
XI.
OJEDA PERFORMS HIS V O W TO THE VIRGIN.
BEING recovered from his sufferings, Alonzo de Ojeda prepared to perform his vow concerning the picture of the Virgin, though sorely must it have grieved him to part with a relic to which he attributed his deliverance from so many perils.
He built a little
hermitage or oratory in the village, and furnished it with an altar, above which he placed the picture.
H e then summoned the
benevolent cacique, and explained to him, as well as his limited knowledge of the language, or the aid of interpreters would permit, the main points of the Catholic faith, and especially the history of the Virgin, whom he represented as the mother of the deity that reigned in the skies, and the great advocate for mortal man. The worthy cacique listened to him with mute attention, and though he might not clearly comprehend the doctrine, yet he conceived a profound veneration for the picture. was shared by his subjects.
The sentiment
They kept the little oratory always
swept clean, and decorated it with cotton hangings, labored by their own hands, and with various votive offerings.
They comÂ
posed couplets or areytos in honor of the Virgin, which they sang
to the
accompaniment
of rude
musical instruments,
dancing to the sound under the groves which surrounded the hermitage. A further anecdote concerning this relic may not be unaccept able.
The venerable Las Casas, who records these facts, informs
us that he arrived at the village of CueybĂ s some time after the