Candide (Chapters 16-30)

Summary
Chapter 16

Candide and Cacambo end up in a country with no roads. There they see two naked women running and they are being pursued by two monkeys who are biting their legs. Candide kills the monkeys because he wants them to assist them in their endeavor. They women instead of being happy and praising their savior cry over the dead monkeys.Candide finds out from Cacambo that the monkeys were the husbands of the women. In the morning Cacambo and Candide are surrounded by the natives of the country called Biglugs. They start to rejoice because they mistake Candide to be a Jesuit but Cacambo explains he only wore the clothes to escape from them. The Biglugs show Cacambo and Candide  hospitality and take them to the edge of their territory. Candide  has a strong faith in the perfection of the world.

Chapter 17

Cacambo and Candide continue to travel but their horses die and they run out of food. They find an abandoned canoe and they make their way down the river. Their canoe smashes against some rocks after a day of traveling.At a village they find children playing with emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. When the village schoolmaster calls the children, they leave the jewels on the ground. Candide tries to give the jewels to the schoolmaster, but the schoolmaster  throws them back to the ground. They visit the inn in the village which looks like a European palace where they find people who can speak Cacambo’s native language. Cacambo and Candide eat a grand meal and try to pay for it with two large gold pieces they picked up off the ground. The landlord laughs at them for trying to give him “pebbles.” Moreover, the government maintains all inns for free. Candide believes that this is the place in the world where everything is for the best which connects back to what he had learned from Dr. Pangloss.

Chapter 18

Cacambo and Candide go to see the village sage, a 172-year-old man. The sage explains that his people have vowed never to leave their kingdom, which is called Eldorado. High mountains surround the kingdom, so no outsiders can get in, making Eldorado safe from European conquests. They also have a God whom they thank every day for giving them what they need. No religious persecution occurs because everyone agrees about everything.
Cacambo and Candide visit the king. They embrace him according to customs explained by one of his servants, and such familiarity and equality of address with a monarch shocks them. Candide asks to see the courts and prisons and learns there are none. Rather, there are schools devoted to the sciences and philosophy.
After a month, Candide decides that he cannot stay in Eldorado as long as Cunegonde is not there. He decides to take as many Eldorado “pebbles” with him as he can. The king considers the plan foolish, but sets his architects to work building a machine to lift Candide, Cacambo, and 102 swift sheep loaded down with jewels out of the deep valley. Candide hopes to pay Don Fernando for Cunegonde and buy a kingdom for himself.