exact. At Gizeh, the
mastabas are distributed according to a symmetrical plan, and ranged in
regular streets. At Sakkarah, at Abusir, and at Dahshur, they are scattered
irregularly over the surface of the plateau, crowded in some places, and
wide apart in others. The Mussulman cemetery at Siut perpetuates the like
arrangement, and enables us to this day to realise the aspect of the
Memphite necropolis towards the close of the ancient empire.

[Illustration: Fig. 114.--False door in mastaba, from Mariette's _Les
Mastabahs_.]

[Illustration: Fig. 115.--Plan of forecourt of mastaba of Kaapir.]

A flat, unpaved platform, formed by the top course of the core (Note 13),
covers the top of the mass of the mastaba. This platform is scattered over
with terracotta vases, nearly buried in the loose rubbish. These lie
thickly over the hollow interior, but are more sparsely deposited
elsewhere. The walls are bare. The doors face to the eastward side. They
occasionally face towards the north or south side, but never towards the
west. In theory, there should be two doors, one for the dead, the other for
the living. In practice, the entrance for the dead was a mere niche, high
and narrow, cut in the eastward face, near the north-east corner. At the
back of this niche are marked vertical lines, framing in a closed space.
Even this imitation of a door was sometimes omitted, and the soul was left
to manage as best it might. The door of the living was made more or less
important, according to the greater or less development of the chamber to
which it led. The chamber and door are in some cases represented by only a
shallow recess decorated with a stela and a table of offerings (fig. 114).
This is sometimes protected by a wall which projects from the facade, thus
forming a kind of forecourt open to the north. The forecourt is square in
the tomb of Kaapir (fig. 114), and irregular in that of Neferhotep at
Sakkarah (fig. 116). When the plan includes one or more chambers, the door
sometimes opens in the middle of a small architectural facade (fig. 117),
or under a little portico supported by two square pillars without either
base or abacus (fig. 118). The doorway is very simple, the two jambs being
ornamented with bas-reliefs representing the deceased, and surmounted by a
cylindrical drum engraved with his name and titles. In the tomb of Pohunika
at Sakkarah the jambs are two pilasters, each crowned with two lotus
flowers; but this example is,