We were still singing this (with rudimentary hand motions) in a Girl Scout camp in western New York in the 1990s. No one knew where it came from but as the other younger poster has mentioned it had an 'extra' verse at the end that mitigated the girl's expected death -

"And my father he was right,
I'm a mother and a wife
And my dreams have come to be
In a paradise for three"

It was a favorite hiking song because of the steady cadence of the words, and we loved singing it!

I've heard the 'nonsense' words sung several different ways... I was always partial to Pa kee ya (the way I learned it), but Bahia does make more sense! I always did wonder what those nonsense words meant!