It may work in Tahiti but what about Fiji

I was reading Sea of Glory by Philbrick hoping I would learn some about the Pacific.  The book was more about the personality conflicts among the men.  An interesting incident was the crews encounter with Tahiti and Fiji.  Tahiti was considered paradise, beautiful people who worked little due to the abundant fruit and fish.  They were also very...free with their bodies.  William Reynolds, one of the officers, mused "Who can judge one nation by another?" (pg 133)When the expedition got to Fiji they encountered cannibals who kindly offered them a fresh head and eventually killed two members of the crew.  The expedition retaliated with what can only be called a massacre of an entire village and Reynolds seemed to forget his earlier sentiments "{L}et no one say that there was one life too many taken."(pg 231) .  The pastoral idea is nice but the wickedness of man always pops up.  Even in Tahiti, it was soon altered by prostitution and venereal disease (Why would the women sell their bodies--the price was an iron nail-- if life was so good?) and alcoholism(What were they trying to escape?).  If a perfect society has to be protected from every other society (especially "evil" Western ones), I doubt its perfection.