Heartened by the thought that they were now wealthy, Candide and Cacambo found the first day of their journey pleasant. The lovesick youth wrote Cunégonde's name on the trees. But then new difficulties arose. On the second day, two sheep, laden with treasure, were lost in a bog; two others died of fatigue a few days later. After days of travel, just two sheep were left. Candide pointed the moral: the riches of the world are perishable; only virtue and the joy of seeing Cunégonde again lasted. Cacambo agreed but added that they still had the two sheep and much wealth. And in the distance was the Dutch possession, the town of Surinam. Surely their happiness was about to begin.
Near the town they saw a black man in rags lying on the ground. His left leg and right hand were missing. Candide addressed him in Dutch and was told that he was waiting for his master, Mynheer Vanderdendur. Candide learned that this same master had punished the man by maiming him, as he did all servants or slaves who offended him. He recalled that his mother, when she sold him into slavery, assured him that he was making his parents' fortune. So far from doing so, he continued, he had only helped to increase his Dutch master's fortune. Dogs, monkeys, and parrots had a happier lot than the slaves. The Dutch "fetishes," as he called them, converted him to Christianity, assuring him every Sunday that white and black alike were the children of Adam. "You must admit that no one could treat his relatives more horribly," the man concluded.
