Those who are not familiar with Native character cannot well appreciate the difficulty of dealing with these rumours, especially such as betoken hostility. There is almost always some foundation in fact, but the fact is generally insignificant as compared with the inferences drawn therefrom by the people at large. In many cases, Dinuzulu was nothing more than the victim of circumstances, the mere fact of being the eldest son of the king of a once famous Native state serving to attach to the least of his acts an importance that did not and possibly was not intended to belong to them. Much that was laid to his charge was the outcome of perfervid imagination on the part of tribes in various parts of South Africa ready to espouse his cause. It has also to be borne in mind that the great majority of Natives are unable to read or write; they, therefore, do not, like Europeans, depend on newspapers for their news. It has, from time immemorial, been customary for them to live in a state of chronic alertness, when even the most absurd rumour of a warlike or disturbing character was spread within twenty-four hours over an enormous area. The media whereby this news, or rather _warning_ is spread, are the incessant travelling to and fro of men and women, who again, living as they do under a system of polygamy, have wide circles of relations and acquaintances. Thus a warning brought, say, twenty miles and communicated at a kraal, is swiftly transmitted by the receiver to those within his immediate neighbourhood, only to be borne still further and further by others, leaving the original messenger to pursue his journey, repeating the intelligence as before wherever he goes. It can, therefore, be seen that facts, before long, become greatly exaggerated, leading to extravagant inferences being drawn therefrom. Natives, as a rule, when employed as messengers, are careful in conveying messages. Dinuzulu probably never employed anyone on an important occasion who was not discreet and thoroughly trained in such duty. Rumours, therefore, are not always a true version of what was originally said, but of what those at a kraal, men or women, believed was said.