or Mato Grosso, a province of Brazil, lying between Lat. 7. and 24. S., Long. 50. and 62. W., and bounded on the N. by the provinces of Para and Alto Amazonas, on the E. by that of Goiás, on the S. by that of Parana, and on the W. by Bolivia; area estimated at 426,500 square miles. Of this extensive country little is known with accuracy, for it has been but little visited by Europeans, being covered to a great extent with dense forests, from which the province derives its name. It is traversed by several ridges of mountains, but these are of no great elevation. Great part of the surface is occupied by undulating table-lands. The principal mountain ridge runs from E. to W., and afterwards N.W., separating the waters that flow into the La Plata from those which go to swell the giant stream of the Amazon. This chain is known by different names in different places; being called the Serras Vertentes on the E., and the Parecis or Paricis on the W. and N.W.; while the whole bears the name of Cordillera Geral. Besides this, there are numerous branches from the central ridge in both directions, many of which have no distinctive names. The table-land on the N., which is called Canipos dos Paricis, is barren, and uninhabited by Europeans; while that of the Parana to the S. possesses large pastures. The principal rivers of the province are,—the Madeira and its tributary the Guaporé, the Juruena, the Chingua, and the Araguaia, flowing to the N., and joining the Amazon and the Tocantins; and, flowing to the S., the Paraguay and the Cuiaba. In many parts of the province gold and diamonds have been found; a circumstance which has induced the formation of settlements and mines; but these are now comparatively unproductive, and little cared for. Besides this, various other gems and minerals are found in different parts. Rock-salt and salt- petre are found, but they are not worked to any great extent; and although rich iron exists in great abundance, yet this metal has not attracted so much attention as the gold and precious stones, and is allowed to lie neglected. In many of the valleys the soil is very rich and fertile, producing rice, millet, cotton, sugar, tobacco, &c.; but comparatively little of the district is cultivated, owing to the thinness of the population. The natural productions of the country consist of timber of many different kinds, some of which are used for ornamental purposes; and gums, balsams, cacao, jalap, &c. Among the fauna of this country the principal are pumas, jaguars, deer, hares, &c. The climate is hot and tropical; and the rainy season extends from April to September, during which time the rivers overflow their banks, and fertilize the low-lying country in the neighbourhood. The inhabitants are chiefly native Indians; and they are occupied for the most part in hunting and pastoral employments. The commerce of the province is very small, and cannot be expected to make much progress as long as there are not better means of communication than at present exist. Mato Grosso is divided into two comarcas,—Ciuaiba and Mato Grosso. It sends two members to the legislature of Brazil,—one to the Senate, and one to the Chamber of Deputies; and is governed by a provincial assembly of twenty members. The capital is Ciuaiba, which, though a mere village, is the residence of an archbishop. The town of Mato Grosso, which was formerly called Villa Bella, is situated in the midst of wide plains on the Guaporé, and consists of low, wooden-tiled houses, which are arranged with considerable regularity. It contains churches and other public buildings, and has a population of 15,000. In the vicinity there are several mines. Pop. of the province, 180,000.

Maturin, Charles Robert, a poet and romance writer, was born at Dublin in 1782, of a family of French extraction. After completing his education at Trinity College in his native city, Maturin took orders, and became a clergyman of the Established Church of Ireland, with the curacy of St Peter's for his preferment. His leisure hours were divided between the irksome duties of a classical tutor, by which he managed to augment his scanty income, and the much more congenial occupation of romance composition. He came before the public for the first time in 1807 as the author of a novel entitled Fatal Revenge, or the Family of Montorio, written in a terrific and gloomy style, after the manner of Monk Lewis, displaying some genius and much bombast, and strongly dashed with the mysterious colouring of the Castle of Udolpho. Having enjoyed considerable popularity by his efforts as a novelist, Maturin next directed his efforts to dramatic composition, and produced in 1816 a wild and powerful tragedy named Bertram, which, through the influence of Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott, was performed at Drury Lane, where it met with surprising success. The Scottish novelist spoke of it as "one of those things which will either succeed greatly or be damned gloriously; for its merits are marked, deep, and striking, and its faults of a nature obnoxious to ridicule." Elated by his success, and rendered extravagant in his expectations by the £1,000 which he realized through his tragedy, Maturin forgot to be provident, and plunged himself into inextricable embarrassments, from which the generous liberality of Scott and others could not rescue him. He prosecuted his literary projects, however, but found that to be haunted by bailiffs was not favourable for the development of his genius. His tragedy of Manuel accordingly, which appeared during the ensuing year, proved a very inferior production: "The absurd work," as Byron said, "of a clever man." Maturin continued his efforts in romantic fiction; and in addition to The Milesian Chief, and The Wild Irish Boy, previously published under the assumed name of "Dennis Jasper Murphy," he wrote Women, or Pour et Contre, and Melmoth the Wanderer, the wildest of his romances. The hero, a sort of absurd Dr Faustus, lives a century and a half; and by the help of the devil performs all manner of incredible adventures. The school of Ann Radcliffe reaches the culmination of loathsome horror and sickening extravagance in the person of this demoniac hero of Maturin's. "Eva," in Women, is the most simple and truthful of this author's delineations. The Abigenses, his last work, published in 1824 in 4 vols., proved tedious and uninteresting, possessing many of the defects of his previous works, and few of their excellences. His characters want variety, his humour is clumsy, and he has no genius for plot; yet his works display scenes of deep passion and touching pathos, coloured with the rich lights of a poetical imagination. In addition to the works already mentioned, Maturin published a tragedy called Fredolpho; a poem on The Universe; and a volume of sermons, London, 1819, characterized by much of the eloquence he is said to have possessed as a preacher. He died on the 30th October 1824.