DR. RUSSEL'S DIARY IN THE EAST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1900, 17 February 1870, Page 7

DR. RUSSEL'S DIARY IN THE EAST.

It is one of the new details of a royal procress that some professional reporter in the train shall note (f&y by day the ... attractive or impressive scenes and incidents to which the journey gives rise. Or. Russell, so well known as _ the Time's correspondent during the Crimean War, and afterwards by his intrepid labours in. India and America, attended the Prince and Princess of Wales on their journey to Kgypt, and has just published a Diary in the Kast. We-'presume that the distinguished reporter v»as entirely unfettered by instructions. It was left to his judgment and taste to give, and in his own way, what would not only be acceptable to the Koyal Family, but pleasure a a narrative when real by the common ' people. The tour of the Prince, though at the time ascribed to political motives, was probably entirely one of amusement I and pleasure. He visited the upper Nile it is said to get a shot at a crocodile^; but we shall assume to traverse a region to which history, both sacred and profane, has lent the highest attraction. Dr. Russel has not trodden a merely beaten path, and reproduced facts already famiilar; but the rank and resources of the Royal party enabled him to throw around these 1 ancient spots a new and peculiar charm. If Dr. Kussell described these objects anew, now so well known, it is to paint | the scene as it appeared when aided by all the appliances of Science and Art. In fact, there are few who possess the power to do more than glance at prominent ohjects, unless those explorers \ThO devote to the memorials of the Pharaohs months and years of life. The Royal party visited Jerusalem ;and Dr. r Russell has described the objects which are made novel by his report. His attention was, however, specially directed to the excavations now making at the cost of the Palestine Exploration Fund. His descriptions incite new interest in this enterprise, which is clearing away many mistakes and bringing to light facts which illustrate the statements of history, some of which have been long disputed, but are now proved to be true. The visit to the Khedive, as the ruler of Kgypt is now called, involved an enormous expense, ihe splendour of the reception was the theme of admiration. Unhappily these hospitalities to foreigners, lately renewed, increase the burdens of the people. It must, however, be recollected that enormous sums are expended by wealthy travellers who visit such countries, and that the circulation of money is sometimes a powerful stimulant to the production of wealth. The journey of the Prince to the Kast included Constantinople. It is said that the magnificence ot their reception was pre-eminently Asiatic. Great changes are passing over the capital of the Sultan, the commercial po--sition of which has always been the envy of the worli, and may yet be the prize of some future conqueror. Mr. Kussell chronicles the visit ot the Prince and Princess of Wales to the Crimea, where so many thousands ofcour countrymen a few years ai»o poured out their blood like water. The Koyal party stood beside the graves at Cathcart Hill, and doubtless moralised on the evils of war.

The work of Dr. Yiussell occupies six hundred paees, and is spoken of with commendation as a remarkable example of simple narrative, clear, sparkling with, incident of an attractive kind, and free from the p<*otism of an author and the servility of the courtier. —Sydney Set old.