232 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
nions, 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 he had 
placed it, they alighted on the earth near the 
base of the red-ridged mountains, and soon per¬ 
ceived their brother and his wife in their terrestrial 
habitation. Ashamed to offer their salutations to 
him and his bride without a present, one of them 
was transformed on the spot into a pig, and a 
bunch of uru , or red feathers. These acceptable 
presents the other offered to the inmates of the 
dwelling, as a gift of congratulation. Oro and his 
wife expressed their satisfaction at the present; 
the pig and the feathers remained the same, but 
the brother of the god assumed his original form. 
Such a mark of attention, on such an occasion, 
was. considered by Oro to require some expression 
of his commendation. He accordingly made them 
gods, and constituted them Areois, saying, EiAreoi 
orua i te ao , nei , ia noaa ta orua tuhaa: u Be 
you two Areois in this world, that you may have 
your portion, (in the government,” &c.) In the 
commemoration of this ludicrous fable of the pig 
and the feathers, the Areois, in all the taupiti, and 
public festivals, carried a young pig to the temple; 
strangled it, bound it in the ahu haio, (a loose 
open kind of cloth,) and placed it on the altar. 
They also offered the red feathers, which they 
called the uru maru no te Areoi , “ the shadowy 
uru of the Areoi,” or the red feathers of the party 
of the Areoi. 
It has been already stated that the brothers, 
who were made gods and kings of the Areois, lived 
