David Livingstone your own eye only, ... Doubtful if I live to see you again ..." Henry Morton Stanley had been sent to find him by the "New York Herald" newspaper in 1869. He found Livingstone in the town of Ujiji on the shores of Lake Tanganyika on 10 November 1871, greeting him with the now famous words "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" Livingstone responded, "Yes", and then "I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you." These famous words may have been a fabrication, as Stanley later tore out the pages of this encounter in his diary. Even Livingstone's account of
Henry Morton Stanley encounter does not mention these words. The phrase is first quoted in a summary of Stanley's letters published by "The New York Times" on 2 July 1872. Stanley biographer Tim Jeal argued that the explorer invented it afterwards to help raise his standing because of "insecurity about his background". The "Herald"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s own first account of the meeting, published 1 July 1872, reports: Preserving a calmness of exterior before the Arabs which was hard to simulate as he reached the group, Mr. Stanley said: – "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?" A smile lit up the features of the pale white man as