 Baltimore had become disenchanted with conditions in " this <unk> country " , and he wrote to his old acquaintances in England lamenting his troubles . The final blow to his hopes was dealt by the Newfoundland winter of 1628 – 9 , which did not release its grip until May . Like others before them , the residents of Avalon suffered terribly from the cold and from <unk> . Nine or ten of Baltimore 's company died that winter , and with half the settlers ill at one time , his house had to be turned into a hospital . The sea froze over , and nothing would grow before May . " Tis not <unk> <unk> " , Baltimore wrote to Wentworth . He confessed to the king : " I have found ... by too <unk> bought experience [ that which other men ] always concealed from me ... that there is a sad face of <unk> upon all this land " . 
