Captain Cook, in his log of 1778, noted that native Hawaiian women would swim out to his ships; after Western contact occurred, the females continued to openly want sex. With no religious or social restrictions against prostitution, the natives had no hesitancy about profiting from the newcomers’ desires.
In December, 1827, drafted by Kaʻahumanu and scrutinized for Christian propriety by Hiram Bingham, a set of prohibitions were proscribed (murder, theft, adultery, prostitution, gambling, and the sale of alcoholic spirits.) Prostitution didn’t stop. Later, there was an unofficial system of regulated prostitution in the Islands.