The diary describes Laing's journey through Great Britain (chiefly Scotland), July-September 1874 (pp. 1-32); France, Switzerland and Italy, September-December (pp. 33-144); Greece and Asia Minor, December (pp. 144-186); Egypt, December 1874-January 1875 (pp. 188-216); the Suez Canal and Palestine, January (pp. 218-270); and Egypt, 17-25 January; ending at Keneh with the note 'Continued in Vol. II' (pp. 272-286). The journey was apparently made in the company of an American, T.E. Screven ('Edward'). The text is on the right-hand pages, with photographs on the left. There are 30 photographs taken in Scotland, 9 in Italy, 1 group photograph in Egypt and 1 group photograph in Jerusalem. Italian banknotes have also been stuck into the volume, along with three pages on Ephesus and four pages of Biblical quotations written by Laing.