rial. Beds are not very uncommon. Many are
identical in structure with the Nubian _angarebs_, and consist merely of
some coarse fabric, or of interlaced strips of leather, stretched on a
plain wooden frame. Few exceed fifty-six inches in length; the sleeper,
therefore, could never lie outstretched, but must perforce assume a
doubled-up position. The frame is generally horizontal, but sometimes it
slopes slightly downwards from the head to the foot. It was often raised to
a considerable height above the level of the floor, and a stool, or a
little portable set of steps, was used in mounting it. These details were
known to us by the wall-paintings only until I myself discovered two
perfect specimens in 1884 and 1885; one at Thebes, in a tomb of the
Thirteenth Dynasty, and the other at Ekhmim, in the Graeco-Roman
necropolis. In the former, two accommodating lions have elongated their
bodies to form the framework, their heads doing duty for the head of the
bed, and their tails being curled up under the feet of the sleeper.

[Illustration: Fig. 265.--Carved and painted mummy canopy.]

[Illustration: Fig. 266.--Canopied mummy-couch, Graeco-Roman.]

[Illustration: Fig. 267.--Mummy-sledge and canopy.]

[Illustration: Fig. 268.--Inlaid-chair, Eleventh Dynasty.]

The bed is surmounted by a kind of canopy, under which the mummy lay in
state. Rhind had already found a similar canopy, which is now in the Museum
of Edinburgh[72] (fig. 265). In shape it is a temple, the rounded roof
being supported by elegant colonnettes of painted wood. A doorway guarded
by serpents is supposed to give access to the miniature edifice. Three
winged discs, each larger than the one below it, adorn three superimposed
cornices above the door, the whole frontage being surmounted by a row of
erect uraei, crowned with the solar disc. The canopy belonging to the
Thirteenth Dynasty bed is much more simple, being a mere balustrade in cut
and painted wood, in imitation of the water-plant pattern with which temple
walls were decorated; the whole is crowned with an ordinary cornice. In the
bed of Graeco-Roman date (fig. 266), carved and painted figures of the
goddess Ma, sitting with her feather on her knee, are substituted for the
customary balustrades. Isis and Nephthys stand with their winged arms
outstretched at the head and foot. The roof is open, save for a row of
vultures hovering above the mummy, which is wept over by two kneeling
statuettes of Isis and