This is mainly a translation of Garcia d’Orta’s Coloquios (No. 1815) with the addition of some illustrations. Acosta, a Portuguese Jesuit physician and surgeon, travelled to India where he met Garcia d’Orta. Acosta pioneered the pharmacological study of plants of the East Indies. Asian plants that he described include ginger, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, opium and cardamom. The American plants include pineapple, sugar cane, rubber, and the “Indian fig” of Peru. After an account of opium, the work ends with an illustrated treatise on the Indian elephant.