30 – Selim, Bombay and Maganga, I Presume?

Henry Morton  Stanley (1841-1904) was sent to East Africa by the New York Herald to track down David Livingstone, who had not been heard from for three years. Stanley trekked from Zanzibar to Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, covering close to one thousand miles in 236 days of marching through coastal jungles, over mountains and a central plateau.  He was not an explorer himself, but an adventurous journalist, whose quest for the missing missionary and geographer involved gathering equipment, pack animals, food stores, gifts to present to local rulers en route, as well as recruiting expedition members: some 100 guides, bearers, soldiers, cooks, and interpreters.  While the language and communication side of his travels interested him less than his surroundings, his health, the discipline of his team, or the success of his mission, his account in How I Found Livingstone gives us an idea of some of his exchanges along the way to Ujiji, where he found Livingstone on 10 November, 1871.

Good Interpreters are very important: men who have been used by their chiefs, missionaries, etc., as interpreters, are much to be preferred; for so great is the poverty of thought and language among common people, that you will seldom find a man, taken at hazard, able to render your words with correctness. Recollect to take with you vocabularies of all the tribes whom you are at all likely to visit. ¹

Second only to cloth in importance, beads were the “small change” used to purchase
provisions along the way. Unfortunately, the variety available was bewildering to the neophyte explorer …²

1871. March 21.  Fifth caravan departs with twenty-eight pagazis, twelve soldiers, two white men, one tailor, one cook, one interpreter, one gun-bearer, seventeen asses, two horses and one dog.  ³

In the end, Bombay would become not only one of the most accomplished guides in the history of African exploration but likely the most widely travelled men in Africa, estimated to have covered some six thousand miles of grasslands, forests, deserts, and mountains, mostly on foot.⁴

Zanzibar

When Stanley reached Zanzibar in January 1871, he had already recruited two members of his retinue, William Farquhar, a Scotsman who was the first mate on the ship he had taken from Bombay to Mauritius, and Selim Hishmeh, “a Christian Arab boy from Jerusalem, who was to act as interpreter”.⁵ During his month on the island he had to equip his expedition and recruit more people. He had never done anything of the sort and depended on his contacts for advice. Stanley was well aware of how much he had to learn.

One day’s life at Zanzibar made me thoroughly conscious of my ignorance respecting African people and things in general. I imagined I had read Burton and Speke through, fairly well, and that consequently I had penetrated the meaning, the full importance and grandeur, of the work I was about to be engaged upon. But my estimates, for instance, based upon book information, were simply ridiculous, fanciful images of African attractions were soon dissipated, anticipated pleasures vanished, and all crude ideas began to resolve themselves into shape.⁶

He stayed with Captain Francis Webb, the American consul in Zanzibar, which made it easy for him get assistance. The Arab merchant, Sheikh Hasid, was in a good position to inform him: he was part of a significant Arab trading community in East Africa that sent caravans into the interior to trade in ivory and slaves. Sheikh Hasid also happened to own the American consul’s residence and live across the street from him.  He gave Stanley gave him invaluable advice about the cloth, beads and wire he should take with him to trade for food along the way and to present to local dignitaries as “honga” or tribute.⁷

Stanley’s account of how he familiarised himself with the different kinds of cloth and beads available and the preferences of different people and groups he was likely to meet with shows him attempting to come to grips with Swahili terms:

The proper course to pursue, I found, was to purchase 2,000 doti of American sheeting, 1,000 doti of Kaniki, and 650 doti of the coloured cloths, such as Barsati, a great favourite in Unyamwezi; Sohari, taken in Ugogo; Ismahili, Taujiri, Joho, Shash, Rehani, Jamdani or Kunguru-Cutch, blue and pink.⁸

Over and over I studied the hard names and measures, conned again and again the polysyllables; hoping to be able to arrive some time at an intelligible definition of the terms. I revolved in my mind the words Mukunguru, Ghulabio, Sungomazzi, Kadunduguru, Mutunda, Samisami, Bubu, Merikani, Hafde, Lunghio-Rega, and Lakhio, until I was fairly beside myself.⁹

The Faithful

As he considered what else he needed for his journey, Stanley hired another white man, John William Shaw, a sailor who was to rank second to William Farquhar.  When it came to recruiting the locals who were to make up the vast number of his expedition, he had some help from Johari, “the chief dragoman on the American consulate who knew where certain of Speke’s ‘Faithful’ were to be found” ¹⁰  The territory was new to Stanley but he was not the first white man to venture into the interior of East Africa, and he knew that earlier explorers, Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke and James Grant had recruited locals, and he thought that it would be useful for him to have men on board who were used to working with white men.  Their experience may also have been reassuring to him, as he wrestled with the practicalities of looking for Livingstone.

With the aid of the dragoman Johari, I secured in a few hours the services of Uledi (Capt. Grant’s former valet), Ulimengo, Baruti, Ambari, Mabruki (Muinyi Mabruki— Bull-headed Mabruki, Capt. Burton’s former unhappy valet)—five of Speke’s “Faithfuls.” When I asked them if they were willing to join another white man’s expedition to Ujiji, they replied very readily that they were willing to join any brother of “Speke’s.”¹¹

There was one more ‘Faithful’ to track down: Sidi Mubarak Mombay, known as Bombay, who lived on Pemba, an island north of Zanzibar.  He had grown up in Gujarat, having been enslaved in East Africa and sent to India as a child.  When he was freed on the death of his owner he had decided to go home, where he joined Speke on an expedition in 1857.¹² Johari was prevailed upon to write to him, and he appeared four days later.  Bombay agreed to be the captain of Stanley’s escort of askari, or soldiers, and helped him to recruit 18 more men.  Stanley was lucky to have him.  Foreigners like him needed local experts when it came to both preparing for travel and during the expedition, when they would “oversee the porters, serve as negotiators and interpreters, administer medical care, and navigate safe passage through hundreds of miles of unmapped land”¹³ Bombay was extremely experienced, good-natured and resilient. 

Calling on the Sultan

Before Stanley sailed for Bagamoyo, on the mainland of East Africa on 6 February, 1871, he paid a formal call on Sayyid Barghash bin Said al-Busaidi, the Sultan of Zanzibar, accompanied by Captain Webb.  His description of the meeting is like those he gives of other encounters with dignitaries: there is a sense of occasion, and a summary of the exchanges made.  The meeting included the collector of customs and merchant who was interested in the expedition, as well as the Sultan.  “Johari the dragoman stood humbly before the Sultan, expectant and ready to interpret what we had to communicate to the Prince.”¹⁴ Stanley relates the ritual diplomatic exchange that took place:

The conversation began with the question addressed to the Consul.

“Are you well?”

Consul. —” Yes, thank you. How is His Highness?”

Highness. —”Quite well!”

Highness to me. —”Are you well?”

Answer. —”Quite well, thanks!”

The Consul now introduces business; and questions about my travels follow from His Highness—

“How do you like Persia?”

“Have you seen Kerbela, Bagdad, Masr, Stamboul?”

“Have the Turks many soldiers?”

“How many has Persia?”

“Is Persia fertile?”

“How do you like Zanzibar?”

Having answered each question to his Highness’ satisfaction, he handed me letters of introduction to his officers at Bagamoyo and Kaole, and a general introductory letter to all Arab merchants whom I might meet on the road, and concluded his remarks to me, with the expressed hope, that on whatever mission I was bound, I should be perfectly successful.¹⁵

Maganga

The expedition started heading to into the interior from Bagamoyo on 18 February,1871. Stanley treated most of his meetings along the way to Ujiji as formalities rather than interesting encounters, and it is certainly true that his dealings with local people usually involved exchanges of niceties followed by negotiations over how much – and which – cloth or beads to present as honga, or tribute.  His account does mention exceptions to that rule, however, like the time he invited local Nyamwezi dignitaries into his tent.  This was in September, in a village outside Unyanyembe called Mkwenkwe, the birthplace of one of the expedition’s pagazi, or porters, Maganga, who was asked to help out.

They spoke the Kinyamwezi language, and my interpreter Maganga was requested to inform the chief of the great delight I felt in … seeing them. After a short period expended in interchanging compliments, and a competitive excellence at laughing at one another, their chief desired me to show him my guns.¹⁶

Stanley went on to show them his medicine chest, had them sample medicinal brandy and gave them some concentrated ammonia – for the relief of snakebites and headaches – to sniff.  He apparently had a point to make about his superior knowledge.  “The entire morning was passed in this state visit, to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned. ‘Oh,’ said the Sultan at parting, ‘these white men know everything, the Arabs are dirt compared to them!’”¹⁷

Selim

Whatever Stanley’s views on Arabs, he had occasion to meet up with several of their trade caravans as his party marched to Ujiji, and was invited to call upon members of the Arab community settled in the interior.  Selim proved useful: when key players on the expedition staff are introduced late in Stanley’s account, he is described as “[a]n important member of the Expedition … Without someone who spoke good Arabic, I could not have obtained the friendship of the chief Arabs in Unyanyembe; neither could I have well communicated with them, for though I understood Arabic, I could not speak it.“¹⁸

While Selim was doubtless involved in interpreting exchanges of pleasantries with Arab traders along the way to Ujiji, he was also with Stanley at more serious gatherings:

The group of stately Arabs in their long white dresses, and jaunty caps, also of a snowy white, who stood ready to welcome  me  to Tabora, produced  quite  an  effect  on  my  mind.  I was in time for a council of war they were holding — and I was requested to  attend — Selim,  my  Arab  interpreter, forming  one  of  the  number.¹⁹

The Arabs in question were tired of dealing with the demands of one Mirambo, who was threatening to attack Tabora if they did not take his side in his war against his enemies.  They decided to take him prisoner and Stanley ill-advisedly decided to join them.  Mirambo outwitted the forces against him and burned Tabora to the ground at the end of August.  This dangerous distraction was just one of the hazards of the expedition which had to contend with desertion, illness, and death.  There was uncertainty as to the success of the whole venture and the men slogged through difficult, often unhospitable, terrain.

It is clear from Stanley’s account that the key men he employed had many different responsibilities.  Selim is described as an interpreter, but he also had to take charge of a donkey and cart²⁰.  Maganga was taken on as a porter, and is so described in the brief account given of him as a strong, faithful servant, an excellent pagazi, with an irreproachable temper. He it was who at all times, on the march, started the wildly exuberant song of the Wanyamwezi porters, which, no matter how hot the sun, or how long the march, was sure to produce gaiety and animation among the people.²¹

Bombay

Stanley’s thumbnail sketch of Bombay is neither revealing nor generous: Bombay has received an excellent character from Burton and Speke. “Incarnation of honesty” Burton grandly terms him. The truth is, Bombay was neither very honest nor very dishonest, i.e., he did not venture to steal much.²²  As well as questioning his honesty, he dismissed his leadership skills.  Bombay probably had routine responsibilities that Stanley did not concern himself with, like dealing with the men under his command and negotiating the tribute to be paid to local leaders, as his spokesman.  Stanley acknowledges this in his account of how one local chief was encouraged to lower his price for crossing a river from 56 cloths:

Here was another opportunity for diplomacy. Bombay and Asmani [his deputy] were empowered to treat with Kiala about the honga, but it was not to exceed twenty-five doti. At 6 A.M., having spoken for seven hours, the two men returned, with the demand for thirteen doti for Nzogera, and ten doti for Kiala. Poor Bombay was hoarse, but Asmani still smiled; and I relented, congratulating myself that the preposterous demand, which was simply robbery, was no worse.²³

Fame

 While Stanley does not diminish the problems he faced, How I Found Livingstone is a success story, a tale of adventure and derring-do, culminating in the November 10, 1871 meeting in Ujiji. Both he and Livingstone became modern celebrities, whose fame, based on their publications, was not looked upon kindly by the established scientists of the Royal Geographical Society.  It did not help Stanley’s reputation in such circles that the Herald pioneered “human interest” stories of a sensational nature,²⁴. The newspaper also made good use of the 1866 transatlantic cable that made the news of his discovery of Livingstone come “hot out of Africa and onto breakfast tables across England, continental Europe and America.²⁵ Stanley himself came to rue the greeting he became so famous for, as it quickly became a source of amusement and mockery and seemed to pop up everywhere. 

“Dr Livingstone, I presume?” said one dummy to another in a men’s fashion plate in the October issue of the Tailor and Cutter; “Dr Livingstone, I presume?” shouted a host of clowns and funny men in the music-halls, dressed up in black tights and woolly wigs; “Dr Livingston, I presume?” murmured the old gentlemen to each other in the soft crannies of their clubs.²⁶

Finding Livingstone changed his life, however.  After spending four months exploring the area around Lake Tanganyika with him, the intrepid journalist became an explorer himself. He was among those who marked the transition of such activity from voyages of discovery to expeditions with the explicitly imperialist agenda of the Scramble for Africa.

Postscript

1. Galton, Sir F. 1855. The Art of Travel. London, John Murray. pp. 57-58.
2. Karlis, K. 1992. BEADS 4:49-59 p.1
3. Stanley, H.M. How I Found Livingstone. 2010.(Abridged). The Floating Press. p. 85.
4. Millard, C. 2022. River of the Gods; Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile. Swift Press, Great Britain. p. 272
5. Stanley, H.M. 1913. How I Found Livingstone. Scribner’s New York, 1913. p. 12
6. Ibid. p. 17
7. Ibid. p. 37
8. Ibid. p. 34. One doti = four yards
9. Ibid.p. 35
10. Ibid. p. 39
11. Ibid pp. 39-40
12. https://www.rgs.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?nodeguid=fafd5305-a83d-4083-90e0-3d456e23743b&lang=en-GB
13. Millard.Op. cit. p. 105
14. Stanley. Op. cit. p. 52
15. Ibid. pp. 53-54
16. Ibid. pp. 341-2
17. Ibid.p. 344
18. Ibid. p. 363
19. Stanley, H.M. Scribner’s New York, 1913 p. 267. (Selim is not mentioned in the 2010 edition.)
20. Stanley, 2010 edition, p. 87
21. Stanley, 2010 ed. p. 363
22. Ibid. p. 358
23. Ibid. p. 399
24. Pettitt, C. 2007. Dr Livingstone, I Presume. London, Profile Books. p. 80
25. Ibid. p. 49
26. Anstruther,I. 1956. I Presume: Stanley’s Triumph and Disaster. Geoffrey Bles, London. p. 146
27. https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr.rIfB.NNj6ecNr.YM34lQ;_ylu=Y29sbwNpcjIEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1674864961/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fblantyreproject.com%2f2014%2f06%2fselim-hishmeh-interpreter-for-stanley%2f/RK=2/RS=XA9YVvlc1vlNOVMHdt7vteXFd3E-
28. https://www.rgs.org/geography/black-geographers/hidden-histories/
29. https://www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/archive/lot-archive/results/278363/