The city itself measures some four miles in length by two in breadth, and is entered by five large gates, at each of which is placed a warder, who watches those who pass his gate, and exacts a toll from each passenger. The streets of Abeokuta are narrow, winding, and intricate, a mode of building which would aid materially in checking the advance of an enemy who had managed to pass the outer walls. There are several small market-places here and there, and one of them is larger than the rest, and called “Shek-pon,” i. e. “Do the bachelors good,” because on every fifth day, when the markets are held, there is a great concourse of people, and the single men can find plenty of persons who will fill their pipes, bring them drink, and cook their food.
“These, then, are my first impressions of Abeokuta. The streets are as narrow and irregular as those of Lagos, intersecting each other at every parallel angle, and, when broad and shady, we may be sure that they have been, or that they will be markets, which are found even under the eaves of the ‘palace.’ The sun, the vulture, and the pig are the only scavengers.
“The houses are of tempered mud—the sun-dried brick of Tuta and Nupè, is here unknown—covered with little flying roofs of thatch, which burn with exemplary speed. At each angle there is a ‘Kobbi’—a high, sharp gable of an elevation—to throw off the heavy rain. The form of the building is the gloomy hollow square, totally unlike the circular huts of the Krumen and the Kaffirs. It resembles the Utum of the Arabs, which extending to Usaraga, and Unyavyembe in Central Intertropical Africa, produces the ‘Tembe,’ and which, through the ‘Patio’ of Spain, found its way into remote Galway.
“There are courts within courts for the various subdivisions of the polygamous family, and here also sheep and goats are staked down. The sexes eat alone; every wife is a ‘free-dealer,’ consequently there is little more unity than in a nunnery. In each patio there is usually some central erection intended as a storehouse. Into these central courts the various doors, about four feet wide, open through a veranda or piazza, where, chimneys being unknown, the fire is built, and where the inmates sleep on mats spread under the piazza, or in the rooms, as the fancy takes them. Cooking also is performed in the open air, as the coarse earthen pots scattered over the surface prove.
“The rooms, which number from ten to twenty in a house, are windowless, and purposely kept dark, to keep out the sun’s glare; they vary from ten to fifteen feet in length, and from seven to eight in breadth. The furniture is simple—rude cots and settles, earthen pots and coarse plates, grass bags for cloth and cowries, and almost invariably weapons, especially an old musket and its leathern case for ammunition. The number of inhabitants may vary from ten to five hundred, and often more in the largest. There is generally but one single large outer door, with charms suspended over it.”
The military strength of Abeokuta has been tested by actual warfare, and has been found to be quite adequate to repel native troops. Generally, an African fight consists of a vast amount of noise attended by a very small amount of slaughter, but in the various attacks of Dahome on Abeokuta the feelings of both parties appear to have been so completely excited that the slaughter on both sides was really considerable.
The fact was, that each party had a long-standing grudge against the other, and meant to gratify it. Gezo, the father of King Gelele, had been defeated ignominiously near Abeokuta, and had even lost his stool, the emblem of sovereignty. Burning to avenge themselves, the Dahomans made friends with the inhabitants of Ishogga, a small town some fifteen miles to the southwest of Abeokuta, who advised their guests as to the particular gate which it was best to attack, the time of day when an assault would be most likely to succeed, and a ford by which they could pass the river.
Trusting to these counsellors, they crossed the river at the ford, which proved to be so bad that they wetted all their ammunition. They made the attack at mid-day, when they were told that every one would be asleep or at work in the gardens, which are situated at a considerable distance from the city. And when they came to the walls of the city they found the defenders all on the alert, and ready to give them a warm reception. Lastly, they attacked a gate which had been lately fortified, whereas another, on the opposite side of the town, was very weak, and might have been taken easily. Consequently, they had to return to their own country, vowing vengeance against their treacherous allies.
After Gezo’s death, Gelele took up the feud, and, after allaying suspicion by continually proclaiming war against the Egbas, and as invariably staying at home, in the tenth year he followed up his threat with a rapid attack upon Ishogga, carried off a great number of prisoners, and killed those whom he could not conveniently take away.
Flushed by success, he determined to assemble a large force and attack the capital itself. In March, 1851, some fifteen or sixteen thousand Dahoman soldiers marched against Abeokuta, and a fierce fight ensued, the result being that the Dahomans had to retreat, leaving behind them some two thousand killed, and wounded, and prisoners. As might be supposed, the Amazons, being the fiercest fighters, suffered most, while the loss on the Egban side was comparatively trifling. Ten years afterward, another expedition marched against Abeokuta, but never reached it, small-pox having broken out in the ranks, and frightened the soldiers home again.