body, and, from the locality and surroundings, it has been pronounced to
have been the body of Gray, who died before reaching Cooper's Creek.

If the reader will remember what was the result of the circumstantial
accounts of Leichhardt's murder retailed to Hely by the natives, he will
not be astonished at what follows.

The native that M'Kinlay had with him thus described the manner of the
white man's death, which, of course, was all pure fiction. First, that
the whites were attacked in camp by the natives, who murdered the whole
party, finishing up by eating the bodies of the other men. Next, that the
journals, saddles, etc., were buried at a fake a short distance away.
Naturally, under the circumstances, M'Kinlay believed this story;
particularly as further search revealed another grave (empty) and other
small evidences of the presence of whites.

Next morning a tribe of blacks appeared, and although they immediately
ran away, one was captured, who corroborated the story told by M'Kinlay's
native. The prisoner had marks both of ball and shot wounds on him; he
stated that there was a pistol concealed near a neighbouring lake, and he
was sent to fetch it; but instead, he appeared the following morning at
the head of a host of others, well armed, and bent on mischief. The
leader was obliged to order his men to fire on them, and it was only
after several discharges that they ran away.

M'Kinlay was now quite satisfied that he had found all that remained of
the Victorian expedition; and after burying a letter for the information
of any after comers, they left Lake Massacre, as he called it, and
returned to his depot camp. The letter hidden was as follows:--