We'd left Cairo by boat not but a few hours earlier.

[Oh. Oh, my goodness, someone actually knows what she's talking about! This is very exciting!]

The Book of Amun-Ra is one of the most famous books in history out there. It contains within it all the secret incantations of the Old Kingdom - these spells could supposedly take life away from mortals, and so the Egyptians feared it enough to hide it in the City of the Dead.