cooperation was essential.) The couple would then leave their home to live with a far-off relative for a while, until the boy acquired enough wealth to pay the original bride price, as well as a fine, to the parents of the girl. This practice has since died out. The Bukusu highly approve of intermarriages between themselves and the BaMasaaba; they have similarities in codes of conduct, marriage customs, circumcision traditions and folklore. Among the most famous of Bukusu marriage customs is the immense respect accorded to in-laws. A lady, for example, treats her father-in-law with much deference, and they are not allowed to make physical contact in any way. The same is true of a man and his mother-in-law. In marriage, duties were strictly segregated. Housework and agricultural duties were performed by the women and children. The older boys looked after cattle. Young, newly married men formed the community's warriors, while middle-aged men did little. Older men formed the village's council of elders, and resolved disputes. Punishment for crimes was usually on an eye-for-an-eye basis, while petty crimes like theft were punished by the perpetrators being expelled from the village, and their property confiscated and redistributed to the wronged party. Cattle were very important as the main means of exchange, alongside cowrie shells (known as chisimbi). Most values, from the beauty of a girl to the price of a field of land, were expressed in terms of heads of cattle. Possessing cattle, wealth, and prosperous agriculture, the Bukusu were sometimes not only admired but also envied by neighboring communities. Occasionally intermarriages would take place between them and the other communities and it was common practice for Kalenjin neighbors to give the Bukusu their sons to look after their herds of cattle. In times of famine, which are said to have been frequent among their Kalenjin neighbors, the latter used to even sell their children to the Bukusu. The Bukusu also used to send their own young boys to grow up with Kalenjin or Maasai families, in some cases for espionage purposes. Death Being sedentary pastoralists, they had time to care for their sick and bury their dead. A sick person was looked after until he recuperated or died. When a person died, he was buried in a grave with a warrior's weapons if he was an elder. Several functions were performed during and after the funeral ceremony. Ordinarily, burial pits