A view of a large wooden house with a wooden palisade in the background leading from the back wall, as part of a Maori defensive village called a 'Pa tuwatawata'. In the foreground are 11 people standing and sitting on the ground. An old man is leaning against the low roof of the house. The two younger men in the middle foreground are standing near each other. Both have patterned wraps around their waists, with the lefthand man wearing a strip of cloth over his right shoulder over a patterned shirt and tucked into the wrap. He holds a 'patu' (oval-shaped club) in his right hand. The righthand man holds a 'taiaha' in his right hand and rests his left hand on his hip. The young boy on the right, also wearing a patterned shirt and wrap holds a short axe in his right hand. The group sitting on the ground consists of four women wearing plain dark clothing, a young child, and a kneeling boy posing for the camera. Behind him is a kneeling man with a short wooden? staff (slightly blurred) in his hand.

The photograph is captioned 'A Native Pah [Pa]. New Zealand'.

Frederick North was Assistant Paymaster on board HMS Barrosa (1860), a wooden screw corvette, while it was part of the Royal Navy Flying (Detached) Squadron that sailed from England in June 1869. The squadron visited New Zealand, arriving at Lyttleton on 16 January 1870, although Barrosa arrived at Wellington on 25 January from Melbourne. The Squadron left New Zealand around 10 February 1870.