The Chinese language first came to Trinidad and Tobago in 1806, when the British had brought Chinese labourers in order to determine if they were fit to use as labourers after the abolition of slavery. About 2,645 Chinese immigrants arrived in Trinidad as indentured labour between 1853 and 1866. A majority of the people who immigrated in the 19th century were from southern China and spoke the Hakka and Yue dialects of Chinese. In the 20th century after the years of indentureship up to the present-day more Chinese people have immigrated to Trinidad and Tobago for business and they speak the dialects of the indenturees along with other Chinese dialects, such as Mandarin and Min. J. Dyer Ball, writing in 1906, says: "In Trinidad there were, about twenty years ago, 4,000 or 5,000 Chinese, but they have decreased to probably about 2,000 or 3,000, 2,200 in 1900. They used to work in sugar plantations, but are now principally shopkeepers, as well as general merchants, miners and railway builders,