rock is there covered with a sandstone in course of formation; this is friable at some points, at others so soft that but few mummies have been entrusted to it."[1] This formation extends over nearly the whole of the ground upon which the tombs of the eleventh, twelfth, and especially of the thirteenth, dynasties, are
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Fig. 160.—Tomb at Abydos; drawn in perspective from the elevation of Mariette.
packed closely together. This Mariette calls the northern cemetery. "The tombs of Abydos have no subterranean story, properly speaking. Well, mummy-chamber, and funerary chapel are all constructed, not dug. In the few instances in which the ground has been excavated down to the friable sandstone which over-lies the hard rock, the opening has been lined with rubble.
"Hence the peculiar aspect which the necropolis of Abydos must have .jpg)
Fig. 161.—Section of the above tomb.presented when intact. Imagine a multitude of small pyramids live or six metres high, carelessly oriented or not at all, and uniformly built of crude brick. These pyramids always stand upon a plinth, they are hollow, and within they are formed into a clumsy cupola by means of roughly built off-sets. The pyramid stands directly over a chamber in its foundations which shelters the mummy. As soon as the latter was in place, the door of its chamber was closed by masonry."[2] An exterior chamber was often built in front of the pyramid, and being always left
