CHAP. XVI. SMALL BRICK PYRAMIDS, 421 



whicli, from their perishable materials, crude brick, 

 have been destroyed after a lapse of so many ages. 

 Indeed we find the remains of some of them, and 

 occasionally even of their vaulted chambers, with 

 the painted stucco on the walls. The small brick 

 pyramids on the heights, which still stand to attest 

 the antiquity of the arch, were built for the same 

 purpose; and similar paintings occur on their stuc- 

 coed walls as on those of the excavated tombs. 



Many other funerals occur on the tombs, which 

 vary only in some details from those already men- 

 tioned. I cannot however omit to notice an in- 

 stance of palm branches strewed in the way*, and 

 the introduction of two tables or altars for the 

 deceased and his wife, — one bearing a profusion of 

 cakes, meat, fruit, vegetables, and other customary 

 gifts; and the other numerous utensils and insig- 

 nia, as flabella, censers, ostrich feathers, asps, and 

 emblems, together with the hind leg of a victim, 

 placed upon a napkin spread over the table. 

 Another is curious, from its showing that water or 

 grease was sometimes poured upon the ground or 

 platform on which the sledge of the hearse passed, 

 as was done in moving a colossus or any great 

 weight by the same process. t 



The hearse containing the mummy was gene- 

 rally closed on all sides ; but it was sometimes 

 open, partially or entirely ; and the body was seen 

 placed upon a bier, ornamented, like some of the 



* Vide Plate 86. They are represented as if standing upright, ac- 

 cording to Egyptian custom, to show tliem, though in reality on the 

 ground. 



f Woodcut, No. 30:^. next page. Vide also Vol. III. p. 328. 



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