'... we ascended a short steep pitch, and stood near and opposite the Rock Olumo. Surmounting an abrupt hill, with falls on all sides, it is a conspicious landmark in the scenery. It has the honour of giving a name to the city clustering at its feet, Abe-Okuta '(the town) Underneath the rock', by us called Understone. The Builder - for such is the meaning of its name - is some two hundred yards in length, divided about midway by a fissure that affords an easy ascent, and overhanging on all sides except the north, where a neighbouring tree acts as a natural ladder ... Olumo, however, is classic ground in these regions, the Arg, the Capitolium of the Egba race, the Rock against which the gates of Ibadan have not yet prevailed. It was the point de réunion of the people of Egba, who, about 1820-1822, had been scattered to the winds by intestine tumults and the fury of their enemies. Some thirty-five or forty years ago, say in 1825, a few of the better sort, flying from their new master, took refuge under 'the Builder', ... the sanctuary was joined by other fugitives and villains. When the new-comers found themselves strong enough, they drove out the original bandits, and then laid the foundations of a city which, after Olumo, they called Abeokuta. It grew apace. In memory of their former settlements, they gave to the new seats the names of their ancient townships - Ake, for instance, was the old capital of Egba-land in the days when it was a province of Yoruba - and they conferred upon their military and civilian chiefs titles familiar to their ears in olden times. They hung up their harps by the side of Olumo, and holding the soil to be hard and sterile, they sighed for a return to the lands flowing with milk and honey.'(Abeokuta, I, pp. 165-9)