Here along this "new isle" were the predestined fisheries of Britain.[7] [Footnote 6: Cape Breton was not then, or for nearly two hundred years afterwards, known to be an island.

It was thought to be part of the "island" (peninsula) of what we now call Nova Scotia, and the whole of this region which advances so prominently into the Atlantic was believed to be at first the great unknown "New Island" of Irish and English legends--legends based on the Norse discoveries of the eleventh century.

Cape Breton was thus named by the Breton seaman who came thither soon after the Cabot expeditions to fish for cod.

This large island is separated from Nova Scotia by the Gut of Canso, a strait no broader than a river.] [Footnote 7: Dr.S.E.DAWSON (_The St.Lawrence Basin_) says of this voyage: "When the forest wilderness of Cape Breton listened to the voices of Cabot's little company (of Bristol mariners) it was the first faint whisper of the mighty flood of English speech which was destined to overflow the continent to the shores of another ocean...."] They encountered no inhabitants, though they found numerous traces of their existence in the form of snares, notched trees, and bone netting needles.

John Cabot hoisted the English flag of St.George and the Venetian standard of St.Mark; then--perhaps after coasting a little along Nova Scotia--fearful that a longer stay might cause them to run short of provisions, he turned the prow of the _Matthew_ eastward, and reached Bristol once more about August 6, and London on August 10, 1497, with his report to King Henry VII, who rewarded him with a donation of L10.