The first volume [110 pp.] of a 'Journal to the East Indies & Home' by, and in the autograph of, T. Hastings, who, according to the journal, was going out to join his regiment (22nd Light Dragoons) as a captain. The journal covers the period 25 March - 21 November 1803 and describes the voyage to Madras on board the East Indiaman Wexford and the subsequent 'march' in company with Lieutenant Conran in palanquins as far as Adonee and Hutcholi where the present account ends. There are several sketches in pencil and watercolour, some pasted on to the pages, and also specimens (fragile) of a butterfly and the wing of a flying-fish. At the beginning of the volume are three loose items, probably all originally inside a wrapper marked 'Vellore Papers. Three Letters', containing accounts of the Vellore Mutiny, 1806, viz. a copy of an account by Mrs Fancourt, [widow of Colonel Fancourt], 24 July 1806, and copies made by Mrs Anna Maria Gore, one if not both for Captain Hastings, of a letter, 25 September 1806, from Eliza Prichard, Vellore ('Mr Prichard' being the Garrison Surgeon at Vellore) to Mrs Dalrymple at Hydrebad [sic] and of a letter, 2 October 1806, from Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Gore, Hydrebad to Mr Skardon, this last transcript dated Abinger Hall, 11 May 1807.

The file comprises letters by Lieut. Thomas Griffith of the 20th Bengal Native Infantry, 1804-1813, to his father, John Wynne Griffith, his mother, Jane, brother, George, grandmother and aunt, written on board Lord Keith and from Calcutta, Cawnpore, Barrackpore, Prince of Wales Island, Malacca, Java and Bengal, describing the voyage, Madras and Calcutta, scenery, animals, naval engagements of the English, French and Dutch, his lieutenancy, April 1805, promotions, 1812-1813, life in the army camps, isolation from family, military and social activities of Marquis Cornwallis (and his death in 1805), Marquis of Wellesley, Col. Ochterlony, Lord Lake, Sir Edward Pellew, the Duke of York, Lord Wellington, Lord Minto, Sir George Nugent, Major Scott Waring, events in Europe and elsewhere, including Nelson's defeat of the French in 1805, military and political activities of the French under Bonaparte in Austria and Prussia, capture of Bourbon by Colonel Keating, 1810, capture of Java in 1811, collection of seeds and plants to send home, Indian life, a hurricane in Madras, 1807, preparations for war against the Sikhs, trade of the East India Company, news from home including the death of his brother, John in 1804, the Wynne family of Garthmeilio and Plasnewydd, 1806-1807, 1812, a marriage of Salusbury and Mostyn with concerns about hereditary maladies, 1810, death of his grandmother, 1811, election of Lord Kirkwall, 1813, acquaintances such as Howell and Henry Clough, William Evans, surgeon, Capt. Ingleby, Conway Shipley and Rev. Charles Shipley.