BELLE ISLE, STRAIT OF, the more northerly of the two channels connecting the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the Atlantic between northern Newfoundland and Labrador ; its length is 35m. from north-east to south-west, breadth I o to 15m. Belle Isle is a precipitous granite island, 7oof t. high, at its Atlantic entrance, with lighthouses and wireless station. The strait is in the most direct route from Europe to the St. Lawrence, but is open only from June till the end of November, and even then is often dangerous through floating ice and fogs. Through it Jacques Car tier sailed in 1534. The southern or Cabot strait between Cape Ray in Newfoundland and Cape North in Cape Breton, was dis covered later, and the expansion below Belle Isle was long known as La Grande Baie. Cabot strait is open all the year, but has oc casional drift ice.