Ill 
IN NATIVE HOMES 
Unless we except the broad ways that lead 
from the gates to the market places, there is 
neither in Abeokuta nor in other native cities in 
this part of Africa, anything that can be called a 
street. By Europeans, the dwellings are called 
“compounds.” These are scattered about with¬ 
out reference to any particular plan and the lanes 
between them are always crooked and generally 
narrow. A “compound” is an enclosed space 
(generally in the form of a square) bounded by a 
mud wall about seven feet high. There is but 
one entrance to this enclosed space. At night or 
in times of danger, this is closed by strong double 
doors well barred. Inside, against this wall, the 
rooms of the house are built. These rooms are 
square and are covered by a thatched roof, which 
rests on the wall on the outside and on posts on 
the inside so as to give a covering for a piazza 
extending all around the enclosed space on the 
inside. In this piazza the inmates mostly live, 
the rooms being chiefly used for dormitories or 
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