EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES. 597 



composed of a massive square of unbaked bricks, often very small. It 

 is whole and is covered with a casing of the white limestone of Tourah. 

 It was in the casing that the steles were found. They look to the north 

 or the east, and are provided with tables for offerings. The pit is gen- 

 erally placed at the north of the mastaba, instead of opening in the 

 center of the construction, as is usual in the tombs of the old empire, 

 but the galleries are hollowed out in such a manner that the deceased 

 reposes directly under the stele which bears his name. The corridors 

 that lead to the funeral vault are cut in the rock and are covered either 

 by an elliptical arch of rectangular sections of Tourah limestone or 

 with an arch of unbaked bricks fitting very regularly and slightly 

 raised. 



These observations concerning the tombs of the twelfth dynasty in 

 the necropolis of Dahchour result from the opening of thirty mast abas. 

 I have, therefore, certainly not been led into error by an anomaly in 

 the funeral usage. 



The construction of the pyramid and of the mastabas presents strik- 

 ing analogies. The bricks are identical in dimensions, material, and 

 making; the dressing is the same in the great monument as in the 

 small ones. It is easy to conclude from these likenesses that all the 

 tombs belonged to the same epoch. At the same time I observed that 

 the masses resulting from the pits of the mastabas formed around the 

 excavations from which they proceeded regular layers, more or less 

 thick and interspersed among the sands produced by the wind, and 

 that in consequence when I encountered the debris I necessarily dis- 

 covered the exits not far from the pits. 



While I was concluding these studies, the researches which I had 

 caused to be executed on the base of the pyramid in the supposed 

 place of the lining on the north and east ends led me to discover stones 

 decorated with fragments of inscriptions. One of them contained the 

 cartouche of Ousertesen III. This discovery rendered my conjecture 

 as to the age of the pyramid a quasi certainty. 



I then began the examination of the pits in the open space between 

 the foot of the pyramid and its inclosure of bricks. After a large 

 number of diggings with the pickax in the made soil down to the 

 diluvial gravel, I found the remains of a deep excavation hidden under 

 the sand. Following these remains, I came gradually to the mouth of 

 a pit (February 26) situated near the northwest corner of the pyramid. 



Two days were necessary to remove the earth which filled the cavity. 

 In the course of the work a poor little grave, dated in the twenty-sixth 

 dynasty, placed in the ruins which inclosed the pit, was discovered, 

 and on the 28th of February the door of the subterranean structure 

 was found. 



A tortuous way descended with a gentle slope toward the pyramid 

 and came to an end in a funereal chamber vaulted and ornamented 

 with white limestone where, amidst the debris of a stone sarcophagus, 



