DOWN THE RIVER AGAIN 49 



In order to travel more comfortably we lashed a prahu 

 at either side of mine, while many of the natives who took 

 advantage of the occasion to visit the shops in town, tied 

 theirs at the rear of ours. It was a gay flotilla that pro- 

 ceeded down the river, the Dayaks singing most of the 

 time, especially the women who accompanied their hus- 

 bands, a number of them sitting in my large but crowded 

 prahu. The women never seemed to grow tired of the 

 Mae Lu Long, a jolly song which I had several times heard 

 them singing when returning from the fields in the evening. 

 Its words are of a language called Bungkok. The Ken- 

 yahs have the same song, and when I sang it to the Peni- 

 hings on the Upper Mahakam they also understood it. 

 These Kayans (Segai) are able to sing in the following 

 six dialects or languages: Bungkok, Tekena, Siudalong, 

 Siupanvei, Lepoi, and Lui Lui. 



KAYAN WOMEN'S SONG 



(On retuming from the fields) 



Lively, 





Mae lun long sun dong min ma _- ^i min kam lam {Repeat) 



At times as they paddled along, the men, would sing 

 without words, but more impressively, a song which until 

 recently was used when the Kayan returned to a kam- 

 pong from a successful head-hunting expedition. Though 

 the Dutch authorities evidently have stamped out head- 

 hunting on the Kayan River, and have even destroyed the 

 heads that were hanging in the houses, smashing them 

 and throwing them into the river, the Kayan still speaks 



