Below Woolwich.—Numerous steamers during the day, trains on the Tilbury Railway, and others on the North Kent Railway, give easy access to a number of pleasant places lower down the river than Woolwich. On the Essex side are _Rainham_, near which onion gardens are kept up; _Purfleet_, where vast stores of government gunpowder are kept; _Grays_, where immense quantities of chalk are dug, and where copious springs of very pure water are found in the chalk beds; and _Tilbury_, where there is a regular fortification for the defence of the river, and a steam-ferry over to Gravesend. [Picture: Tilbury Fort] On the Kent side are _Plumstead Marshes_, where artillery practice by Woolwich officers is carried on; _Crossness Point_, where the fine buildings connected with the Southern Outfall Sewer are situated, (and near which were the great Powder Magazines that blew up in October, 1864;) _Erith_, with its pretty wooded heights; _Greenhithe_, where the late General Havelock passed some of his early years, and where Alderman Harmer built a mansion with the stones of old London Bridge; and _Northfleet_, where much shipbuilding is carried on. Beyond Northfleet is _Gravesend_, a famous place for Cockney picnics, but fast losing its rural character. Commercially, Gravesend is important as being the place where the customs’ authorities recognise the port of London to begin; all ships, incoming and outgoing, are visited by the officers here, pilots embark and disembark, and much trade accrues to the town in consequence. [Picture: Gravesend Reach] CRYSTAL PALACE, &c. There are many pretty spots in different directions in the vicinity of London, away from the river, worthy of a visit. On the north-west are _Hampstead_, with its noble Heath and its charming variety of landscape scenery; and _Harrow_, with its famous old school, associated with the memory of Byron, Peel, and many other eminent men. To its churchyard Byron was a frequent visitor: “There is,” he wrote to a friend in after years, “a spot in the churchyard, near the footpath on the brow of the hill looking towards Windsor, and a tomb (bearing the name of Peachey) under a large tree, where I used to sit for hours and hours when a boy.” Nearly northward are _Highgate_, with its fringe of woods, and its remarkable series of ponds; _Finchley_, once celebrated for its highwaymen, but now for its cemeteries; _Hornsey_, with its ivy-clad church, and its pretty winding New River; and _Barnet_, with its great annual fair. On the north-east are _Edmonton_, which the readers of ‘_John Gilpin_’ will of course never forget; _Enfield_, where the government manufacture rifles on a vast scale; _Waltham_, notable for its abbey and its gunpowder mills; and _Epping Forest_—a boon to picnic parties from the eastern half of London. ‘Fairlop Oak’ (Hainault Forest) has disappeared.