The natives had then dug up the body and eaten the flesh.

The old fellow also described minutely the different waters passed by Burke, and the way in which the men subsisted on the seeds of the nardoo plant, all of which he must have heard from other natives.
After waiting a month, Hodgkinson returned, bringing the news of the rescue of King and the fate of Burke and Wills.

This explained McKinlay's discovery as that of Gray's body, the narrative of the fight and massacre being merely ornamental additions by the natives.

After an easterly excursion, in which he visited the two graves on Cooper's Creek, McKinlay started definitely north.

It is difficult to follow without a map the Journal containing the record of his travel during the first weeks.