It is not clear whether the original diary remained unfinished or whether there were other, untranscribed volumes, but this copy covers only the period from 8 August (folio 1 verso), when Alexander Irving embarked at Woolwich, until 3 December 1854 (folio 122). Also copied at appropriate points in the narrative are private letters written chiefly to his wife Mary and to a friend John Scott Moncrieff. The copyist has begun at folios 1 verso-2 and proceeds one opening at a time, presumably in order to allow enough space for sketches, as far as folios 50 verso-51, and resumes thus at folios 88 verso-89, and continues until the narrative breaks off; in between the copy proceeds normally. Following the diary are copies of letters 1865, 1867 of and to other army officers (folio 123 verso) an incomplete copy of a letter apparently from Irving to his father (folio 199 verso) and a poem by him (folio 202 verso).