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 Medûm, 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 Années de Fouilles," in _Mémoires de la Mission
Archéologique Française du Caire_, Pl. 2. 1884.--A.B.E.