Throughout the two years of a grand tour as far as Australia and New Zealand (1852-4), Rev Thomas Bowles kept a daily journal, ultimately filling over 1000 pages in 3 volumes. Transcribed here is the part of the journals which took Bowles from Sri Lanka to Egypt and the Levant then on home. The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 saw a burgeoning interest by westerners in Egypt and the 'Holy Land'. Egypt offered astonishing ancient remains but also the attractions of its healthy winter climate, and exploration in the Levant drew attention to the immense ruins of Graeco-Roman...