As one can guess from the title, the following book is a guide, as well as a report, to capturing elephants from the wild and putting them in captivity. The elephants in question were taken from Sri Lanka, and the reports were penned by James Emerson Tennent, who was a Member of the United Kingdom Parliament for the Irish seats of Belfast and of Lisburn, and a resident Colonial Secretary in Ceylon.

'Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon' is a book about the wildlife of Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), written by James Emerson Tennent, who previously served as the colonial secretary of the region. It discusses in depth the various animals that reside in the area, from mammals to arachnids.

The “powerful and haunting” biography of a star circus elephant who rebelled against her handlers and finally found freedom (Jane Goodall). Against the backdrop of a glittering but brutal circus world, Last Chain on Billie charts the history of elephants in America, the inspiring story of Tennessee’s Elephant Sanctuary, and the spellbinding tale of a resilient elephant who survived a decade of captivity. Left in the wild, Billie the elephant would have been free to wander the jungles of Asia with her family. Instead, traders captured her as a baby and shipped her to America, where circus trainers taught her to carry humans, stand on a tub and balance on one leg. For decades, Billie crisscrossed the country under miserable conditions—chained, beaten, and forced to perform stunts under harsh lights and blaring music. Finally, she got a lucky break. As part of the largest elephant rescue in American history, Billie wound up at a sanctuary for performing elephants in Tennessee. But, overcome with anxiety, she withdrew from the rest of the elephants and refused to let anyone remove a chain still clamped around her leg. Her caregivers began to wonder if Billie could ever escape her emotional wounds.