The corpse, left to itself, received no visits now, save from the Soul, which from time to time quitted the celestial regions wherein it voyaged with the gods, and came down to re- unite itself with the body.

The sepulchral vault was the abode of the Soul, as the funerary chapel was the abode of the Double.
[Illustration: Fig.

133 .-- Section showing shaft and vault of mastaba at Gizeh, Fourth Dynasty.] [Illustration: Fig.

134 .-- Section of mastaba, Sakkarah, Sixth Dynasty.] [Illustration: Fig.

135 .-- Wall painting of funerary offerings, from mastaba of Nenka, Sakkarah, Sixth Dynasty.] Up to the time of the Sixth Dynasty, the walls of the vault are left bare.
Once only did Mariette find a vault containing half-effaced inscriptions from _The Book of the Dead_.