The name pinta (from the Spanish word "pintar," meaning to paint) is used by American authors to designate a group of related or possibly identical diseases seen in various parts of tropical America. The disease appears to have existed among the Aztecs, though some investigators have claimed that it was imported to the new world by African slaves. It is found chiefly in certain parts of Mexico, Central America and some of the South American countries including Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and notably Colombia. Isolated cases are reported from Egypt, Tripoli, The Gold Coast, etc. The disease has many synonyms such as pinta, mal de pinta or tina in Mexico, cute or carare in Venezuela, cativi in Honduras and carate in Colombia. The disease known as carate is prevalent in certain parts of Colombia; Montoya y Flores1 estimated that there were 200,000 cases in that republic in 1898. Three