islands of this Society group, "Raiatea la Sacrée," it is called,
"Raiatea the Blessed," and its own serenity is betokened in its name.


E hau maru, e maru to oe rai
E topara, te Mahana
I Ra' i-atea nei!


So ran the rhyme of Raiatea:


Full of a sweet peace, serene thy sky;
Bright are all thy days
At Raiatea here.


Rai poia or poiri, they say for the gloomy heavens, and rai maemae
when threatening, parutu when cloudy, moere if clear; if the clouds
presage wind, tutai vi. The sunset is tooa o te ra, and the twilight
marumarupo.

The night is te po or te rui, and the moment before the sun rises
marumaru ao. A hundred other words and phrases differentiate the
conditions of sky and air. I learned them from Afa and Evoa and others.

The moon is te marama, and the full moon vaevae. Mars is fetia ura,
the red star; the Pleiades are Matarii, the little eyes; and the
Southern Cross, Tauha, Fetia ave are the comets, the "stars with a
tail," and the meteors pao, opurei, patau, and pitau.