The girls’ _unyago_ lasts a month. They go out to the bush with their instructresses, the head-woman (who gets a fee in calico for each candidate) being called ‘the cook of the mysteries.’ They are instructed in house-building, making pots, cooking, and other duties of married life, and put through a regular drill in these and other things, such as pounding corn, carrying water, etc., which they have probably done often enough before. They also go (symbolically, of course) through the whole round of agricultural operations, pretending to sow the grain, then hoeing, weeding, and reaping. The old women give them advice as to housekeeping and the duties of married life, and warn them of the penalties which await them if unfaithful to their husbands. They are anointed with oil, mixed with certain ‘medicines,’ their heads are shaved, and they are dressed in bark-cloth, which is now almost disused in everyday life. Towards the close of the ceremony, the roof of a house—or a skeleton model of one—is put over the heads of, say, ten at a time, and they have to carry it about. This is supposed to be symbolical of their position as pillars of the home. They are not allowed to leave the scene of the mysteries till everything is over; and, as in the case of the boys, no one not taking part is permitted to approach; while sticks are laid in a peculiar way on the path leading to the place, to show that it is barred. Some friends of mine once met the band of girls leaving for home, ‘all freshly anointed and dripping with oil,’ and soon came to the deserted encampment, with grass sheds built round three sides of a square, and divided into small compartments in which the girls had been sleeping. In the middle of the square were traces of pots having been made, and _ufa_ pounded. The whole proceeding is called ‘being danced.’ The Yaos ‘dance’ girls very young—mere children of seven or eight sometimes—and, from what I have seen, I should say, personally, that they were not improved by the process. But the Yao practice cannot be regarded as typical, as there is reason to believe that it has been modified by the influence of the coast people.