The first of seven field notebooks kept by William Bateson during the first part of his trip to the ‘Steppe’, including time spent in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Orenburg and Karabutak, en route to the Aral Sea. The entries are part travel diary and part field notes.

They include descriptions of landscapes, plants and wildlife observed, places visited (including salt lakes), shells and fossils collected, people encountered (including the Kirghiz), local foods, customs and costumes, and other travel experiences such as bureaucratic red tape, food and water shortages, and celebrating his birthday with vodka (page [60v]). Occasional sketches of people/costumes, boats, landmarks, topography and shells are included, e.g. on pp. [8v], [13r-14r], [18r], [23v-26r], [37r], [41r], [42r], [53v], [62r], along with pages listing names in Russian (page [17v]) and accounts (page [66r]).

The notebook is inscribed with Bateson's name and Cambridge address inside the cover. Entries are in pen and pencil, often in tiny handwriting. The annotations in pen, e.g. on pp. [58v-60r] are perhaps by Beatrice Bateson, as are the five accompanying pages of transcriptions (pp. [i-v]).