Answer:
you didn't provide paragraph six which is needed to answer the question
Most likely irony. Paradise is usually instilled in peoples' minds as somewhere refreshing and heavenly, and the next couple of words say "ahead of them is an empty oil-covered beach" which clearly objects with the paradise statement.
European settlement had overwhelmingly negative outcomes for Native Americans. In spite of the fact that Native American tribes did sometimes frame positive associations with European pilgrims, perpetual European settlement in America, in the long run, prompted illness and removal. Local Americans had no in susceptibility to European sicknesses and their populace was crushed by the presentation of illnesses like smallpox. After some time, most surviving tribes were coercively migrated from their customary grounds to clear a path for extending European settlements.