As this poisonous juice of the Indians of Carthagena and Santa Martha is so famous, it seems well to give an account here of the way it is made, which is as follows. This juice is composed of many things. I investigated and became acquainted with the principal ingredients in the province of Carthagena, in a village called Bahayre, from a cacique or lord, whose name was Macavin. He showed me some short roots, of a yellow colour and disagreeable smell, and told me that they were dug up on the sea shore, near the trees which we call mansanillos, and pieces were cut from the roots of that pestiferous tree. They then burnt these pieces in earthen pots, and made them into a paste. After this was done, they sought for certain ants, as big as the beetles of Spain, which are very black and evil, and which, by merely biting a man, cause terrible pain. This happened when we were journeying on the expedition with the licentiate Juan de Vadillo; for one of the soldiers was bitten by an ant, and suffered so much pain that at last he lost all feeling, and even had three or four bad attacks of fever, until the poison had run its course.