KLIENG’S WAR-RAID TO THE SKIES. 
A DYAK MYTH. 
Tur Sea Dyaks possess numberless stories, legends and 
fables handed down by tradition from ancient times. Some 
are related in plain prose, whilst others are set in a peculiar 
rhythmical measure, and sung to a monotonous chant, but none 
are written ; all are transmitted by word of mouth from gene- 
ration to generation. A story plainly told is an ‘ Hnsera,”’ 
and a story sung is a “ Kana.’ One large collection of 
ensera is similar in character to the stories of Reynard 
the Fox, whose place in Dyak tale is occupied by the Pelandok 
and the Kekura (the mouse-deer and the tortoise), who are 
always represented as acting in concert, and whose united cun- 
ning is more than a match for the strength and ferocity of all 
other animals. Intrigue and stratagem, so abundantly illus- 
trated in these fables are qualities upon which Dyaks love to 
dwell, and they have an analogous series cf stories of the 
adventures of Apai Samumang and Apai Saloi, two men who 
are always plotting against each other, the latter however 
alwavs being outwitted by the former, and then, when occasions 
serve, not ashamed to practice deceptions upon his own family. 
Other tales relate the history of Rajas and their dependents in 
various circumstances, but it may be that these have been 
borrowed in more recent times from Malay sources. Others 
describe the exploits of mythical Dyak heroes, and these per- 
haps constitute the most genuine specimens of the oral litera- 
ture of the Dyak race. Of this class the following is one, 
and being generally sung is called a “ Kana.” 
The greatest hero of Dyak mythical story is Klieng, of 
whom many exploits are recorded—good and bad, warlike and 
peaceful. He is supposed to belong to this world of ours, but is 
not now visible to human eyes as in the good times of yore to 
which Dyaks look back as the golden age. He is without 
pedigree. ‘Tradition makes him out to have been found in the 
