Chapter Chapter 17 · ARRIVAL OF CANDIDE AND HIS VALET AT EL DORADO, AND WHAT THEY SAW THERE.

"You see," said Cacambo to Candide, as soon as they had reached the

frontiers of the Oreillons, "that this hemisphere is not better than the

others, take my word for it; let us go back to Europe by the shortest

way."

"How go back?" said Candide, "and where shall we go? to my own country?

The Bulgarians and the Abares are slaying all; to Portugal? there I

shall be burnt; and if we abide here we are every moment in danger of

being spitted. But how can I resolve to quit a part of the world where

my dear Cunegonde resides?"

"Let us turn towards Cayenne," said Cacambo, "there we shall find

Frenchmen, who wander all over the world; they may assist us; God will

perhaps have pity on us."

It was not easy to get to Cayenne; they knew vaguely in which direction

to go, but rivers, precipices, robbers, savages, obstructed them all the

way. Their horses died of fatigue. Their provisions were consumed; they

fed a whole month upon wild fruits, and found themselves at last near a

little river bordered with cocoa trees, which sustained their lives and

their hopes.

Cacambo, who was as good a counsellor as the old woman, said to Candide:

"We are able to hold out no longer; we have walked enough. I see an

empty canoe near the river-side; let us fill it with cocoanuts, throw

ourselves into it, and go with the current; a river always leads to some

inhabited spot. If we do not find pleasant things we shall at least find

new things."

"With all my heart," said Candide, "let us recommend ourselves to

Providence."

They rowed a few leagues, between banks, in some places flowery, in

others barren; in some parts smooth, in others rugged. The stream ever

widened, and at length lost itself under an arch of frightful rocks

which reached to the sky. The two travellers had the courage to commit

themselves to the current. The river, suddenly contracting at this

place, whirled them along with a dreadful noise and rapidity. At the end

of four-and-twenty hours they saw daylight again, but their canoe was

dashed to pieces against the rocks. For a league they had to creep from

rock to rock, until at length they discovered an extensive plain,

bounded by inaccessible mountains. The country was cultivated as much

for pleasure as for necessity. On all sides the useful was also the

beautiful. The roads were covered, or rather adorned, with carriages of

a glittering form and substance, in which were men and women of

surprising beauty, drawn by large red sheep which surpassed in fleetness

the finest coursers of Andalusia, Tetuan, and Mequinez.[18]

"Here, however, is a country," said Candide, "which is better than

Westphalia."

He stepped out with Cacambo towards the first village which he saw. Some

children dressed in tattered brocades played at quoits on the outskirts.

Our travellers from the other world amused themselves by looking on. The

quoits were large round pieces, yellow, red, and green, which cast a

singular lustre! The travellers picked a few of them off the ground;

this was of gold, that of emeralds, the other of rubies--the least of

them would have been the greatest ornament on the Mogul's throne.

"Without doubt," said Cacambo, "these children must be the king's sons

that are playing at quoits!"

The village schoolmaster appeared at this moment and called them to

school.

"There," said Candide, "is the preceptor of the royal family."

The little truants immediately quitted their game, leaving the quoits

on the ground with all their other playthings. Candide gathered them up,

ran to the master, and presented them to him in a most humble manner,

giving him to understand by signs that their royal highnesses had

forgotten their gold and jewels. The schoolmaster, smiling, flung them

upon the ground; then, looking at Candide with a good deal of surprise,

went about his business.

The travellers, however, took care to gather up the gold, the rubies,

and the emeralds.

"Where are we?" cried Candide. "The king's children in this country must

be well brought up, since they are taught to despise gold and precious

stones."

Cacambo was as much surprised as Candide. At length they drew near the

first house in the village. It was built like an European palace. A

crowd of people pressed about the door, and there were still more in the

house. They heard most agreeable music, and were aware of a delicious

odour of cooking. Cacambo went up to the door and heard they were

talking Peruvian; it was his mother tongue, for it is well known that

Cacambo was born in Tucuman, in a village where no other language was

spoken.

"I will be your interpreter here," said he to Candide; "let us go in, it

is a public-house."

Immediately two waiters and two girls, dressed in cloth of gold, and

their hair tied up with ribbons, invited them to sit down to table with

the landlord. They served four dishes of soup, each garnished with two

young parrots; a boiled condor[19] which weighed two hundred pounds; two

roasted monkeys, of excellent flavour; three hundred humming-birds in

one dish, and six hundred fly-birds in another; exquisite ragouts;

delicious pastries; the whole served up in dishes of a kind of

rock-crystal. The waiters and girls poured out several liqueurs drawn

from the sugar-cane.

Most of the company were chapmen and waggoners, all extremely polite;

they asked Cacambo a few questions with the greatest circumspection, and

answered his in the most obliging manner.

As soon as dinner was over, Cacambo believed as well as Candide that

they might well pay their reckoning by laying down two of those large

gold pieces which they had picked up. The landlord and landlady shouted

with laughter and held their sides. When the fit was over:

"Gentlemen," said the landlord, "it is plain you are strangers, and such

guests we are not accustomed to see; pardon us therefore for laughing

when you offered us the pebbles from our highroads in payment of your

reckoning. You doubtless have not the money of the country; but it is

not necessary to have any money at all to dine in this house. All

hostelries established for the convenience of commerce are paid by the

government. You have fared but very indifferently because this is a poor

village; but everywhere else, you will be received as you deserve."

Cacambo explained this whole discourse with great astonishment to

Candide, who was as greatly astonished to hear it.

"What sort of a country then is this," said they to one another; "a

country unknown to all the rest of the world, and where nature is of a

kind so different from ours? It is probably the country where all is

well; for there absolutely must be one such place. And, whatever Master

Pangloss might say, I often found that things went very ill in

Westphalia."

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