250 The Irish Natuialist, December 



of a nasty precipice. A common interest, liowever, in the 

 stndy of nature made these expeditions specially enjoyable. 

 In the survey of a new district no naturalist is ever likel'S^ to 

 approach Hart in the amount of ground covered in a single 

 day, and some of his records, where the plant is confined to a 

 scarcely accessible situation on the face of a cliff, are never 

 likely to be verified by the ordinary explorer. He used to say, 

 "Always look for alpines in Ireland high up on the north- 

 east face of the precipice. 



For a wager with the writer, Hart walked from Dublin to 

 the summit of Lugnaquilla, the highest of the Wicklow 

 Mountains, (about 75 miles) and back in less than 24 hours, 

 keeping to the hills much of the way. The time-table of this 

 extraordinary performance is now before me. He was accom- 

 panied by Frederick Cullinan (now Sir Frederick Cullinan, 

 C.B.), also a member of the Alpine Club, who equalled Hart 

 in endurance, if not in speed. 



In 1889, in company with the writer, Hart ascended the 

 Weisshorn (14,800 feet) and the Dent Blanche (14,300 feet), in 

 Switzerland. The days were fine and five or six other parties 

 were climbing the same peaks independently. Hart proposed 

 to give them all at least an hour's start, and, notwithstanding 

 these tremendous odds, the Irishmen on each occasion reached 

 the summit first. 



In 1895, when Mr. Haskett Smith was writing "Climbing 

 in the British Isles," it was Hart who contributed the Irish 

 portion. It ma}' be well to warn readers of these little 

 volumes, that some walks and climbs in this country men- 

 tioned cherein, in a light and airy fashion, would be quite 

 impossible for an ordinar}' man to accomplish in the times 

 given. 



Hart was indifferent to weather, and treated rain, wind and 

 mist, even amongst mountains, as negligible quantities. 

 vSmall incidents are often the best indications of character. 

 The following may be mentioned : — By appointment he 

 turned up at Fassaroe one dreadful day to botanize on the 

 cliffs around Powerscourt Waterfall and to hear, if possible, the 

 Wood- Wren Well knowing that if the expedition failed the 

 incident would for years afterwards be a theme for ridicule, 

 a few slices of bread were hastily wrapped up, and we started 



