CORALLINE SNAKE. 
The Andes, or lofty mountains of Chill, in 
South America, which Antonio De Herrera, in 
his History of America, calls a prodigy of 
nature not to be matched in it*s kind, consist 
of two chains of high mountains, about 1500 
leagues in length, stretching along the Pacific 
Ocean, from the Isthmus of Darien, to the 
Straits of Magellan ; and Chimborazo, the 
most elevated point in this vast chain, is 
50,280 feet high, being 5000 feet higher than 
any other mountain in the known-world. " In 
this spacious region," savs Herrera, " are ad- 
ders as red as blood, seven or eight feet long ; 
which in the night appear like burning coals, 
but are not so dangerous as other serpents that 
are imps of darkness." 
It is ingeniously observed by Goldsmith, 
that though few species of the serpent are ve- 
nomous, the difficulty of always deciding 
which are and which are not so, helps to pre- 
serve even the numerous inolFensive tribes ; 
which would otherwise soon be destroved by 
animals who at present fly from them with 
dread and abhorrence. 
