When Stanley reached England, it was not to be overwhelmed with gratitude. At first the Royal Geographical Society received him coldly. Instead of his finding Livingstone, it was surmised that Livingstone had found him. Strange things were said of him at the British Association at Brighton. The daily press actually challenged his truthfulness; some of the newspapers affected to treat his whole story as a myth. Stanley says frankly that this reception gave a tone of bitterness to his book--_How I Found Livingstone_--which it would not have had if he had understood the real state of things. But the heart of the nation was sound; the people believed in Stanley, and appreciated his service. At last the mists cleared away, and England acknowledged its debt to the American. The Geographical Society gave him the right hand of fellowship "with a warmth and generosity never to be forgotten." The President apologized for the words of suspicion he had previously used. Her Majesty the Queen presented Stanley with a special token of her regard. Unhappily, in the earlier stages of the affair, wounds had been inflicted which are not likely ever to be wholly healed. Words were spoken on both sides which cannot be recalled. But the great fact remains, and will be written on the page of history, that Stanley did a noble service to Livingstone, earning thereby the gratitude of England and of the civilized world.
Livingstone's long wait at Unyanyembe--His plan of operations--His fifty-ninth, birthday--Renewal of self-dedication--Letters to Agnes--to _New York Herald_--Hardness of the African battle--Waverings of judgment, whether Lualaba was the Nile or the Congo--Extracts from Journal--Gleams of humor--Natural history--His distress on hearing of the death of Sir Roderick Murchison--Thoughts on mission-work--Arrival of his escort--His happiness in his new men--He starts from Unyanyembe--Illness--Great amount of rain--Near Bangweolo--Incessant moisture--Flowers of the forest--Taking of observations regularly prosecuted--Dreadful state of the country from rain--Hunger--Furious attack of ants--Greatness of Livingstone's sufferings--Letters to Sir Thomas Maclear, Mr. Young, his brother, and Agnes--His sixtieth birthday--Great weakness in April--Sunday services and observations continued--Increasing illness--The end approaching--Last written words--Last day of his travels--He reaches Chitambo's village, in Ilala--Is found on his knees dead, on morning of 1st May--Courage and affection of his attendants--His body embalmed--Carried toward shore--Dangers and sufferings during the march--The party meet Lieutenant Cameron at Unyanyembe--Determine to go on--_Ruse_ at Kasekéra--Death of Dr. Dillon--The party reach Bagamoio, and the remains are placed on board a cruiser--The Search Expeditions from England--to East Coast under Cameron--to West Coast under Grandy--Explanation of Expeditions by Sir Henry Rawlinson--Livingstone's remains brought to England--Examined by Sir W. Fergusson and others--Buried in Westminster Abbey--Inscription on slab--Livingstone's wish for a forest grave--Lines from _Punch_--Tributes to his memory--Sir Bartle Frere--The _Lancet_--Lord Polwarth--Florence Nightingale.
When Stanley left Livingstone at Unyanyembe there was nothing for the latter but to wait there until the men should come to him who were to be sent up from Zanzibar Stanley left on the 14th March; Livingstone calculated that he would reach Zanzibar on the 1st May, that his men would be ready to start about the 22d May, and that they ought to arrive at Unyanyembe on the 10th or 15th July. In reality, Stanley did not reach Bagamoio till the 6th May, the men were sent off about the 25th, and they reached Unyanyembe about the 9th August. A month more than had been counted on had to be spent at Unyanyembe, and this delay was all the more trying because it brought the traveler nearer to the rainy season.
The intention of Dr. Livingstone, when the men should come, was to strike south by Ufipa, go round Tanganyika, then cross the Chambeze, and bear away along the southern shore of Bangweolo, straight west to the ancient fountains; from them in eight days to Katanga copper mines; from Katanga, in ten days, northeast to the great underground excavations, and back again to Katanga; from which N.N.W. twelve days to the head of Lake Lincoln. "There I hope devoutly," he writes to his daughter, "to thank the Lord of all, and turn my face along Lake Kamolondo, and over Lualaba, Tanganyika, Ujiji, and home."