(said Sir William Fergusson in a contribution to the Lancet, April 18, 1874), “there were the indications of an oblique fracture.  On moving the arm there were the indications of an ununited fracture.  A closer identification and dissection displayed the false joint that had so long ago been so well recognized by those who had examined the arm in former days....  The first glance set my mind at rest, and that, with the further examination, made me as positive as to the identification of these remains as that there has been among us in modern times one of the greatest men of the human race—­David Livingstone.”

On Saturday, April 18, 1874, the remains of the great traveler were committed to their resting-place near the centre of the nave of Westminster Abbey.  Many old friends of Livingstone came to be present, and many of his admirers, who could not but avail themselves of the opportunity to pay a last tribute of respect to his memory.  The Abbey was crowded in every part from which the spectacle might be seen.  The pall-bearers were Mr. H.M.  Stanley, Jacob Wainwright, Sir T. Steele, Dr. Kirk, Mr. W.F.  Webb, Rev. Horace Waller, Mr. Oswell, and Mr. E.D.  Young.  Two of these, Mr. Waller and Dr. Kirk, along with Dr. Stewart, who was also present, had assisted twelve years before at the funeral of Mrs. Livingstone at Shupanga.  Dr. Moffat, too, was there, full of sorrowful admiration.  Amid a service which was emphatically impressive throughout, the simple words of the hymn, sung to the tune of Tallis, were peculiarly touching: 

“O God of Bethel! by whose hand
Thy people still are fed,
Who through this weary pilgrimage
Hast all our fathers led.”

The black slab that now marks the resting-place of Livingstone bears this inscription: 

BROUGHT BY FAITHFUL HANDS
OVER LAND AND SEA,

HERE RESTS

DAVID LIVINGSTONE,

     MISSIONARY, TRAVELER, PHILANTHROPIST,

     BORN MARCH 19, 1813,
     AT BLANTYRE, LANARKSHIRE.

     DIED MAY 4,[79] 1873,
     AT CHITAMBO’S VILLAGE, ILALA.

     [Footnote 79:  In the Last Journals the date is 1st May; on
     the stone, 4th May.  The attendants could not quite
     determine the day.]

For thirty years his life was spent in an unwearied effort to evangelize the native races, to explore the undiscovered secrets, and abolish the desolating slave-trade of Central Africa, and where, with his last words he wrote:  “All I can say in my solitude is, may Heaven’s rich blessing come down on every one—­American, English, Turk—­ who will help to heal this open sore of the world.”

Along the right border of the stone are the words: 

     TANTUS AMOR VERI, NIHIL EST QUOD NOSCERE MALIM
     QUAM FLUVII CAUSAS PER SAECULA TANTA LATEHTES.

And along the left border: 

     OTHER SHEEP I HAVE WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD,
     THEM ALSO I MUST BRING, AND THEY SHALL HEAR MY VOICE.