His life between 1846 and 1857 remains scarcely documented, but it is known that he fathered at least one son with a local woman. Selim's living descendants from this affair have been traced in Scotland and the United States.[6] After leaving the Peterculter home in 1846 Selim resurfaced as a lecturer on the Panorama of the Nile at the Great Exhibition of 1851; he petitioned Lord Palmerston for Amelioration of Africa, promoted an idea of a trans-African east-west railroad to facilitate commerce, and was given an audience at the Foreign Office.[8]