On the left wall he found a pile of provisions (fig.

135)[29] and a table of offerings; on the end wall a store of household utensils, as well as a supply of linen and perfumes, the name and quantity of each being duly registered.

These paintings more briefly sum up the scenes depicted in the chapels of ordinary mastabas.

Transferred from their original position to the walls of an underground cellar, they were the more surely guaranteed against such possible destruction as might befall them in chambers open to all comers; while upon their preservation depended the length of time during which the dead man would retain possession of the property which they represented.
[27] For an account of the necropolis of Medum, see W.M.F.

Petrie's _Medum_.
[28] The sarcophagus of Menkara, unfortunately lost at sea when on its way to England, was of this type.