A View of the Thames in 1885

"Although the effects of the tide are not felt much above Richmond Bridge, the condition of the river hereabouts at low water is lamentable. A broad edging of slimy ooze stretches for some distance from the bank on either side, and when the weather is really hot, and there is a drought of any considerable duration, as happened in the summer of 1884, the odour is hardly that of frankincense."  

An excerpt taken from:
The Royal River: The Thames from Source to Sea (1885). Reprinted by Bloomsbury Books 1985.