65. Gilgamish [continued] to speak unto Sabîtu [saying]: 66. "[O] Sabîtu, which is the way to Uta-Napishtim? 67. "What is the description thereof? Give me, give me the description thereof. 68. "If it be possible I will cross the sea, 69. "If it be impossible I will travel by land." 70. Then Sabîtu answered and said unto Gilgamish: 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:
81. "If it be possible cross with him, and if it be impossible come back."
Gilgamish left the goddess and succeeded in finding Ur-Shanabi, the boatman, who addressed to him words similar to those of Sabîtu quoted above. Gilgamish answered him as he had answered Sabîtu, and then asked him for news about the road to Uta-Napishtim. In reply Ur-Shanabi told him to take his axe and to go down into the forest and cut a number of poles 60 cubits long; Gilgamish did so, and when he returned with them he went up into the boat with Ur-Shanabi, and they made a voyage of one month and fifteen days; on the third day they reached the [limit of the] Waters of Death, which Ur-Shanabi told Gilgamish not to touch with his hand. Meanwhile, Uta-Napishtim had seen the boat coming and, as something in its appearance seemed strange to him, he went down to the shore to see who the newcomers were. When he saw Gilgamish he asked him the same questions that Sabîtu and Ur-Shanabi had asked him, and Gilgamish answered as he had answered them, and then went on to tell him the reason for his coming. He said that he had determined to go to visit Uta-Napishtim, the remote, and had therefore journeyed far and that in the course of his travels he had passed over difficult mountains and crossed the sea. He had not succeeded in entering the house of Sabîtu, for she had caused him to be driven from her door on account of his dirty, ragged, and travel-stained apparel. He had eaten birds and beasts of many kinds, the lion, the panther, the jackal, the antelope, mountain goat, etc., and, apparently, had dressed himself in their skins.