h chips of stone swept
hastily in by the workmen when they cleared the chambers to receive the
mummy. The pyramid of Unas has all three niches preserved; but in the
pyramids of Teti and of Merenra, the separating walls have been neatly cut
away in ancient times, without leaving any trace but a line of attachment,
and a whiter colour in the stone where it had been originally covered. The
sarcophagus chamber (G) extends west of the vestibule; the sarcophagus was
placed there along the west wall, feet to the south, head to the north. The
roof over the two main chambers was pointed (fig. 140). It was formed of
large beams of limestone, joined at the upper ends, and supported below
upon a low bench (1) which surrounded the chamber outside (Note 34). The
first beams were covered by two others, and these by two more; and the six
together (J) thoroughly protected the vestibule of the vault.

[Illustration: Fig. 140.--Section of the Pyramid of Unas.]

The pyramids of Gizeh belonged to the Pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty, and
those of Abusir to the Pharaohs of the Fifth. The five pyramids of
Sakkarah, of which the plan is uniform, belonged to Unas and to the first
four kings of the Sixth Dynasty, Teti, Pepi I., Merenra, and Pepi II., and
are contemporary with the mastabas with painted vaults which I have
mentioned above (p. 129). It is, therefore, no matter of surprise to find
them inscribed and decorated. The ceilings are covered with stars, to
represent the night-sky. The rest of the decoration is very simple. In the
pyramid of Unas, which is the most ornamented, the decoration occupies only
the end wall of the sepulchral chamber; the part against the sarcophagus
was lined with alabaster, and engraved to represent great monumental doors,
through which the deceased was supposed to enter his storerooms of
provisions. The figures of men and of animals, the scenes of daily life,
the details of the sacrifice, are not here represented, and, moreover,
would not be in keeping; they belong to those places where the Double lived
his public life, and where visitors actually performed the rites of
offering; the passages and the vault in which the soul alone was free to
wander needed no ornamentation except that which related to the life of the
soul. The texts are of two kinds. One kind--of which there are the fewest--
refer to the nourishment of the Double, and are literal transcriptions of
the formulae by which the priests ensured the trans