 Beginning in the 1850s, Cantonese-speakers began to arrive from Mauritius.It was common for a Sino-Mauritian to bring his relatives over from China to Mauritius for a period of apprenticeship in his business; after they had gained sufficient familiarity with commercial practises and life in a colonial society, he would send them onwards with letters of introduction, lending them his own capital to start up businesses in neighbouring regions, including Réunion.Hakka-speakers, from Mauritius came as well in this manner starting only in the late 1880s.