mber just as
long and as wide as the sarcophagus itself, and about three and a half feet
high. This was roofed in with flat slabs. At the end, or in the wall to the
right, was a niche, which answered the purpose of a _serdab_; and above the
flat roof was next constructed an arch of about one foot and a half radius,
the space above the arch being filled in with horizontal courses of
brickwork up to the level of the platform. The chamber occupies about two-
thirds of the cavity, and looks like an oven with the mouth open. Sometimes
the stone walls rest on the lid of the sarcophagus, the chamber having
evidently been built after the interment had taken place (fig. 134).
Generally speaking, however, these walls rest on brick supports, so that
the sarcophagus may be opened or closed when required. The decoration,
which is sometimes painted, sometimes sculptured, is always the same. Each
wall was a house stocked with the objects depicted or catalogued upon its
surface, and each was, therefore, carefully provided with a fictitious
door, through which the Double had access to his goods. On the left wall he
found a pile of provisions (fig. 135)[29] and a table of offerings; on the
end wall a store of household utensils, as well as a supply of linen and
perfumes, the name and quantity of each being duly registered. These
paintings more briefly sum up the scenes depicted in the chapels of
ordinary mastabas. Transferred from their original position to the walls of
an underground cellar, they were the more surely guaranteed against such
possible destruction as might befall them in chambers open to all comers;
while upon their preservation depended the length of time during which the
dead man would retain possession of the property which they represented.

[27] For an account of the necropolis of Medum, see W.M.F. Petrie's
_Medum_.

[28] The sarcophagus of Menkara, unfortunately lost at sea when on its way
to England, was of this type. See illustration No. 19, Chapter III.,
in Sir E. Wilson's _Egypt of the Past_.--A.B.E.

[29] This wall scene is from the tomb of Nenka, near Sakkarah. For a
coloured facsimile on a large scale, see Professor Maspero's article
entitled "Trois Annees de Fouilles," in _Memoires de la Mission
Archeologique Francaise du Caire_, Pl. 2. 1884.--A.B.E.

2.--THE PYRAMIDS.

[For the following translation of this section of Professor Maspero's book
I am indebted to the kindness