Story: Sex work

Māori interact with French sailors on the beach at Kororāreka (later Russell) in this 1835 print by Barthelemy Lauvergne. Cyrille Laplace, whose text accompanied this picture, states that young Māori women distracted the French sailors from their onshore tasks. The image includes a group of women who engage the French directly in conversation. Meanwhile Māori men talk to some of the French sailors and assist them with their fishing lines, watched by a group of Māori women.