Algerians of the Pacific

Most were sent over to prisons in metropolitan France – Oléron and Saint-Martin-de-Ré (on Île de Ré) – then, as these were due to be closed, to Quélern (near Brest).

At the same time, 29 of them were kept in Oran; Antoine Chanzy, the Governor-General, attempted to have them removed from the public's eye by proposing they should be sent to the Marquesas Islands.

Their arrival on the island coincided with transports of Communards, who were to leave precious testimonies of the Kabyles' presence.

However, the Kabyles were left behind when the Communards were granted amnesty in 1879, and remained in exile despite campaigns to raise sympathy among the French public.

One elderly Algerian-Caledonian traces this to an occasion when the Algerians arrived to perform labour during Ramadan dressed in white robes, whereupon the native Caledonians decided that they must be "Arabs".