Many are identical in structure with the Nubian _angarebs_, and consist merely of some coarse fabric, or of interlaced strips of leather, stretched on a plain wooden frame.

Few exceed fifty-six inches in length; the sleeper, therefore, could never lie outstretched, but must perforce assume a doubled-up position.

The frame is generally horizontal, but sometimes it slopes slightly downwards from the head to the foot.

It was often raised to a considerable height above the level of the floor, and a stool, or a little portable set of steps, was used in mounting it.

These details were known to us by the wall-paintings only until I myself discovered two perfect specimens in 1884 and 1885; one at Thebes, in a tomb of the Thirteenth Dynasty, and the other at Ekhmim, in the Graeco-Roman necropolis.