The law was strict in regard to firearms. Natives in general on the south-west side of the Tugela possessed no more than 200 registered guns, if so many. In Zululand, there were as many as 5,105 in 1897;[75] by 1904, they had not increased beyond 5,126--all of them registered. Of the latter, about 90 per cent. were of the old Tower musket, smooth-bore, and other obsolete types. Apart from legally held guns, Dinuzulu was in possession of a number which he had failed to register, some of them obtained at the time of the Boer War. He also had large quantities of ammunition of various kinds, obtained at the same time and in other ways. How many other guns were owned by his late tribe or other tribes associated therewith, as well as other Zululand and Natal tribes, it is quite impossible to say. These facts are given to show what would have been available had the Insurrection become universal. How far the foregoing arms were used against the troops it is difficult to judge. The majority of those that were used were of the Martini-Henry, Snider, Lee-Metford and Mauser types. _Food supplies._--But for the premature outbreak at "Trewirgie," the Rebellion would probably not have begun until after all the crops had been reaped, _i.e._ about May. To have waited until all the grain was in would have been but to act in accordance with custom. The rebels, therefore, were somewhat at a disadvantage in regard to grain supplies. Although the cattle disease, known as East Coast Fever, had already invaded Zululand in the north, it had not up to that time made its way across the Umhlatuze, consequently, abundant meat supplies (cattle as well as goats) were always obtainable in the vicinity of Nkandhla. The ways in which supplies were procured whilst fighting was going on at Nkandhla, will be set forth later. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 70: The main reason for outlining here a system suppressed in 1879 is that it was at a partial revival thereof that the rebels perpetually aimed. The character of their organization and warfare was generally in accordance therewith. Nor, seeing many of them had been obliged to conform thereto in earlier days, is this any cause for surprise. A description of the old and famous order becomes, therefore, the best and most illuminating introduction to their methods in 1906.