CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOMB. II
sealed, and containing the mummy. Accompanying the coffin, a few large
red vases of coarse fabric, and the remains of quarters of beef, are all that
have been found in mummy-chambers of the oldest period. These vases,
doubtless, once contained water, as was the case with those found in other
parts of the tomb. It is not strange, with the parching desert on every side,
that aridity should have been the synonyme for death ; and that water, deemed
the essential principle of life, should have been abundantly provided for the
thirsty Art.3° The numberless statuettes, and well-manned models of boats,
found with the sarcophagus, appear for the first time in the tombs of the
Eleventh Dynasty, at the opening of the Theban, or second, period.
The entrance to this hidden chamber is always found scrupulously closed
with solid masonry. From it leads up the long and narrow vertical shaft, in
many places reaching a depth of thirty meters, and filled up with a conglom-
erate of earth and stone, to make still more inviolate the mummy's rest. The
mouth is most carefully concealed ; and often a false shaft is made, to lead
astray any inquisitive searcher.
Over the concealed entrance to the mummy-chamber rises, in the shape
°f a truncated pyramid, the viastaba. It varies in size, and richness of internal
appointments, with the age and wealth of the deceased, who had devoted much
of his substance while living to making habitable this his " eternal dwelling."
In this viastaba was the chapel where children, friends, and appointed priests
met, on certain festivals, to eat and drink with the departed, doing him reli-
gious honors, and setting aside his portion on a table of offerings ; thus keeping
up the consoling fiction of an earthly life in common with the living.31 Here,
even the stranger could enter, and say the prayers which the deceased, speak-
lng from inscriptions on the walls, besought him to repeat for their mutual
welfare. The outer walls of the viastaba were not usually the field upon
which the ancient sculptor displayed his skill ; although, in some instances, his
work is found on the facade. About the door is, however, invariably a stereo-
typed formula of prayer in hieroglyphics, followed by a mention of the fune-
real gifts to be presented to the deceased on certain anniversaries, "even to
eternity." Stepping inside, gayly painted reliefs, covering the walls, present
themselves on every hand. Sometimes these brilliant linings of the tombs
were found unfinished, the occupant having been surprised by death before
lhe sculptor had completed his work.32
Could we imagine the rich man's children and friends about us, we should,
doubtless, hear them discourse upon the Ka statues of their departed ancestor,
Walled up in a dark recess adjoining. As a rule, the chapel of every tomb of
the Ancient Empire is furnished with one such recess, called scrdab. In the
tomb of Pehen-u-ka, at Sakkarah, six such enclosures were discovered, unfortu-
nately despoiled; and, as the part of a statue was found in the chapel of the
same tomb at Sakkarah, it is evident that the statues were not all confined in
sealed, and containing the mummy. Accompanying the coffin, a few large
red vases of coarse fabric, and the remains of quarters of beef, are all that
have been found in mummy-chambers of the oldest period. These vases,
doubtless, once contained water, as was the case with those found in other
parts of the tomb. It is not strange, with the parching desert on every side,
that aridity should have been the synonyme for death ; and that water, deemed
the essential principle of life, should have been abundantly provided for the
thirsty Art.3° The numberless statuettes, and well-manned models of boats,
found with the sarcophagus, appear for the first time in the tombs of the
Eleventh Dynasty, at the opening of the Theban, or second, period.
The entrance to this hidden chamber is always found scrupulously closed
with solid masonry. From it leads up the long and narrow vertical shaft, in
many places reaching a depth of thirty meters, and filled up with a conglom-
erate of earth and stone, to make still more inviolate the mummy's rest. The
mouth is most carefully concealed ; and often a false shaft is made, to lead
astray any inquisitive searcher.
Over the concealed entrance to the mummy-chamber rises, in the shape
°f a truncated pyramid, the viastaba. It varies in size, and richness of internal
appointments, with the age and wealth of the deceased, who had devoted much
of his substance while living to making habitable this his " eternal dwelling."
In this viastaba was the chapel where children, friends, and appointed priests
met, on certain festivals, to eat and drink with the departed, doing him reli-
gious honors, and setting aside his portion on a table of offerings ; thus keeping
up the consoling fiction of an earthly life in common with the living.31 Here,
even the stranger could enter, and say the prayers which the deceased, speak-
lng from inscriptions on the walls, besought him to repeat for their mutual
welfare. The outer walls of the viastaba were not usually the field upon
which the ancient sculptor displayed his skill ; although, in some instances, his
work is found on the facade. About the door is, however, invariably a stereo-
typed formula of prayer in hieroglyphics, followed by a mention of the fune-
real gifts to be presented to the deceased on certain anniversaries, "even to
eternity." Stepping inside, gayly painted reliefs, covering the walls, present
themselves on every hand. Sometimes these brilliant linings of the tombs
were found unfinished, the occupant having been surprised by death before
lhe sculptor had completed his work.32
Could we imagine the rich man's children and friends about us, we should,
doubtless, hear them discourse upon the Ka statues of their departed ancestor,
Walled up in a dark recess adjoining. As a rule, the chapel of every tomb of
the Ancient Empire is furnished with one such recess, called scrdab. In the
tomb of Pehen-u-ka, at Sakkarah, six such enclosures were discovered, unfortu-
nately despoiled; and, as the part of a statue was found in the chapel of the
same tomb at Sakkarah, it is evident that the statues were not all confined in