Candide and Cacambo, upon following a river in a boat, are led to the country of Eldorado. Their they find an abundance of gold and precious stones, like emeralds and rubies. However, the inhabitants of that land found the "riches" of their land to be valueless, like rocks and dirt are to us. I think this is pointing towards the idea that something is only valuable if somebody says it is.
For example, in the US, the government prints out a whole bunch of green paper, marks it with a special seal, and then labels it with a worth of either 1, 5, 10, etc.
It has no worth at all, really. You cannot eat it or use it for anything really necessary. However, because the government says it is worth something, we expect to receive a certain product if we hand over the necessary amount of money.
Yet who can determine the worth of one currency against another? Apparently the government, of course, but honestly, just think about it, we are exchanging pieces of paper or pieces of metal for food, clothes, and etc.
The above article is from the New York Times, discussing currency issues, and the worth of currency.
Currency becomes a very complicated issue in macroeconomics. I think Candide's target here is the supposed wealth that the Americas were to have.
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