The Babylonian Story of the Deluge as Told by Assyrian Tablets from Nineveh / The Discovery of the Tablets at Nineveh by Layard, Rassam and Smith

by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge

69. "If it be impossible I will travel by land."

70. Then Sabîtu answered and said unto Gilgamish: page 53

71. "There is no passage most assuredly, O Gilgamish.

72. "And no one, from the earliest times, hath been able to cross the sea.

73. "The hero Shamash (the Sun-god) hath indeed crossed the sea, but who besides him could do so?

74. "The passage is hard, and the way is difficult.

75. "And the Waters of Death which block the other end of it are deep.

76. "How then, Gilgamish, wilt thou be able to cross the sea?

77. "When thou arrivest at the Waters of Death what wilt thou do?"

Sabîtu then told Gilgamish that Ur-Shanabi, the boatman of Uta-Napishtim, was in the place, and that he should see him, and added: