POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
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brothers, Tufarapainuu and Tufarapairai, to seek among 
the daughters of man a suitable companion for him; 
they searched through the whole of the island, from 
Tahiti to Borabora, but saw no one that they supposed 
fit to become the wife of Oro, till they came to Borabora. 
Here, residing near the foot of Mouatahuhuura, red-ridged 
mountain^ they saw Vairaumati. When they beheld 
her, they said one to the other. This is the excellent 
woman for our brother. Returning to the skies, they 
hastened to Oro, and informed him of their success; 
told him they had found among the daughters of man 
a wife for him, described the place of her abode, and 
represented her as a vahine purotu aiai^ a female 
possessed of every charm. The god fixed the rainbow 
in the heavens, one end of it resting in the valley at 
the foot of the red-ridged mountain, the other pene¬ 
trating the skies, and thus formed his pathway to the 
earth. 
When he emerged from the vapour which, like a 
cloud, had encircled the rainbow, he discovered the 
dwelling of Vairaumati, the fair mistress of the cottage, 
who became his wife. Every evening he descended on 
the rainbow, and returned by the same pathway on the 
following morning to the heavenly regions. His wife 
bore a son, whom he called Hoa-tahu-i-te-rai^ friend, 
sacred to the heavens. This son became a powerful 
ruler among men. 
The absence of Oro from his celestial companions, 
during the frequent visits he made to the cottage of 
Vairaumati in the valley of Borabora, induced two of his 
younger brothers, Orotetefa and Urutetefa, to leave their 
abode in the skies, and commence a search after him. 
Descending by the rainbow in the position in which 
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