At the end of the century there were some four hundred thousand people in the West; yet the largest town was Lexington, which contained less than three thousand people.

[Footnote: Perrin Du Lac "Voyage," etc., 1801, 1803, p.

153; Michaux, 150.] Lexington was a neatly built little burg, with fine houses and good stores.

The leading people lived well and possessed much cultivation.

Louisville and Nashville were each about half its size.