He then inquired if they had any prisons;
they replied none. But what gave him at once the greatest surprise and
pleasure was the Palace of Sciences, where he saw a gallery two
thousand feet long, filled with the various apparatus in mathematics
and natural philosophy.
After having spent the whole afternoon in seeing only about the
thousandth part of the city, they were brought back to the King's
palace. Candide sat down at the table with His Majesty, his valet
Cacambo, and several ladies of the court. Never was entertainment more
elegant, nor could any one possibly show more wit than His Majesty
displayed while they were at supper. Cacambo explained all the
King's bons mots to Candide, and, although they were translated,
they still appeared to be bons mots. Of all the things that
surprised Candide, this was not the least.
They spent a whole month in this hospitable place, during which time
Candide was continually saying to Cacambo, "I own, my friend, once
more, that the castle where I was born is a mere nothing in comparison
to the place where we now are; but still Miss Cunegund is not here,
and you yourself have doubtless some fair one in Europe for whom you
sigh. If we remain here we shall only be as others are; whereas if
we return to our own world with only a dozen of El Dorado sheep,
loaded with the pebbles of this country, we shall be richer than all
the kings in Europe; we shall no longer need to stand in awe of the
Inquisitors; and we may easily recover Miss Cunegund.
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