Fierce natives and an enervating climate barred their way.
But it was different with the Dutch.

That very rudeness of climate which had so impressed the Portuguese adventurer was the source of their success.

Cold and poverty and storm are the nurses of the qualities which make for empire.

It is the men from the bleak and barren lands who master the children of the light and the heat.

And so the Dutchmen at the Cape prospered and grew stronger in that robust climate.