Cities

Title:
The Rock of Abeokuta

Note:
“. . . Abeokuta, the largest city of the Yorubans. It has a population of about two hundred thousand, and its mud huts extend for six mile up and down the banks of the Ogun River. There is a mud wall about it, and in its center an enormous rock from which the city gets its name, for Abeokuta means “Under a Rock.” (Carpenter, p.213)
The city is divided into a vast number of yards, with narrow lanes leading here and there through them, but with no fixed streets. Each yard has a mud wall surrounding it against which the houses are so built that the wall forms the back of each room. The roofs are of thatch, beginning at the wall and extending over the rooms.”   (Carpenter, p.213-214)
Some of the richer Yorubans have large establishments, with many rooms for numerous wives and slaves. Several families may live in one yard, and some have so many dwellings divided up by courts that a stranger might get lost if the bale or ruler of the yard did not show him about. (Carpenter, p.214) [Carpenter, Frank G. 1905. Africa. New York: American Book Co., p.214. Book at Google]

Source: 
Reclus, Elisée, Ernst Georg Ravenstein, and A. H. Keane. 1882. The Earth and its Inhabitants, Vol.III. New York: D. Appleton and Company, p.273. Book at Google.