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Sousa. In reading what had been published on the subject and in trying comparison of things in my own care and what I could learn in conversation and discussion, I frequently recalled my one day and the others which followed in studying the Egyptian, Assyrian and Greek departments of the British Museum and later the Louvre. Well, by degrees, certain forms and colors of pottery and stone both glazed, and of early Egyptian make, seemed to me, in certain suggestions, finer in spirit and older. It seemed to me that the question was too important to depend altogether upon the scanty ideas of others, for it was certain that a collection, such as mine would lose much of its interest to future scholars unless it was properly, and as accurately as possible, classified. I felt also the absolute necessity of having in my collection some speciments, at least, of the Egyptian wares, if after seeing the very best of them in their original home, they impressed me deeply in all points of beauty. These ideas I mentioned to no one, but then decided to go to Egypt with open mind and see for myself. 
This started me off and how thoroughly the study was followed up in Egypt, no one but Dr. Mann and our dragoman knows and neither of them know just what my principal object was. They know and helped me to gather scraps of glazed stone and pottery and they know that the fragments are for study, but beyond this the particulars in detail are unknown. 
How, this delightful work or play as it may be called, like all other earnest quests, usually broadens one's vision, and from day to day as I studied the great temples and tombs with their desert environment, the sculpture and painting in and on wood and stone, their glazes and inlay in and on stone and pottery, their jewelry, metal implements, etc., etc., my eyes and mind partially saw and partially understood --- i. e. no one ever fully understood the nature of his inspirations --- and under these influences I felt most keenly a desire to step as rapidly as possible from Egyptian art, in its home, to Japanese art, in its home. This will enable me to compare under best conditions possible the best art of the two countries, and learn more accurately their differences, their qualities, their harmonies and discords. The stops on the way in Ceylon and Java are to compare Buddhistic art which is the real middle ground, and is in a sense no interference. To have the liberty and means to carry out such dreams (?) is a blessing given to but a few, I fear. For my allotment, I am most thankful. 
During my study in the wonderful old mosques in Cairo, in