August 17, 2006:
The European assimilation of Tahiti with Eden makes perfect sense based on the scriptural narrative. Adam and Eve lived without labor; the earth was bountiful of itself.
Labor as the consequence of rebellion.
"As [Joseph] Banks explained, a Tahitian who planted ten breadfruit trees, a task requiring about an hour's labor, did as much for his family's food supply as an English farmer who labored the year round planting and harvesting crops. For Europeans, a society so devoted to pleasure, where work was scarcely necessary, raised profound moral questions." — Lynn Withey, Voyages of Discovery: Captain Cook and the Exploration of the Pacific.
The Tahitians as a people who had not fallen.