In later times, a chapel of alabaster and rose granite was erected alongside the god; temples were built here and there in the more accessible places, and round these were grouped the tombs of the whole country. The bodies of the common people, usually naked and uncoffined, were thrust under the sand, at a depth of barely three feet from the surface. Those of a better class rested in mean rectangular chambers, hastily built of yellow bricks, and roofed with pointed vaulting. No ornaments or treasures gladdened the deceased in his miserable resting-place; a few vessels, however, of coarse pottery contained the provisions left to nourish him during the period of his second existence. Some of the wealthy class had their tombs cut out of the mountain-side; but the majority preferred an isolated tomb, a “mastaba,” * comprising a chapel above ground, a shaft, and some subterranean vaults. * “The Arabic word ‘mastaba,’ plur. ‘masatib,’ denotes the stone bench or platform seen in the streets of Egyptian towns in front of each shop. A carpet is spread on the ‘mastaba,’ and the customer sits upon it to transact his business, usually side by side with the seller. In the necropolis of Saqqâra, there is a temple of gigantic proportions in the shape of a ‘mastaba.’The inhabitants of the neighbourhood call it ‘Mastabat-el-Farâoun,’ the seat of Pharaoh, in the belief that anciently one of the Pharaohs sat there to dispense justice. The Memphite tombs of the Ancient Empire, which thickly cover the Saqqâra plateau, are more or less miniature copies of the ‘Mastabat-el- Farâoun.’Hence the name of mastabas, which has always been given to this kind of tomb, in the necropolis of Saqqâra.” From a distance these chapels have the appearance of truncated pyramids, varying in size according to the fortune or taste of the owner; there are some which measure 30 to 40 ft. in height, with a façade 160 ft. long, and a depth from back to front of some 80 ft., while others attain only a height of some 10 ft. upon a base of 16 ft. square.* * The mastaba of Sabû is 175 ft. 9 in. long, by about 87 ft. 9 in. deep, but two of its sides have lost their facing; that of Ranimait measures 171 ft. 3 in. by 84 ft. 6 in. on the south front, and 100 ft. on the north front. On the other hand, the mastaba of Papû is only 19 ft. 4 in. by 29 ft. long, and that of KMbiûphtah 42 ft. 4 in. by 21 ft. 8 in. The walls slope uniformly towards one another, and usually have a smooth surface; sometimes, however, their courses are set back one above the other almost like steps. [Illustration: 006.jpg THE GREAT SPHINX OF GÎZEH PARTIALLY UNCOVERED, AND THE PYRAMID OF KHEPHREN] Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey, taken in the course of the excavations begun in 1886, with the funds furnished by a public subscription opened by the _Journal des Débats._