the Turkana and it would appear they took a number with them to Nandi but were obliged to get rid of them as it was felt that they would spoil the grazing for cattle. Culture The most noted item of their culture was the Chok from which they got their name. Beech notes that as of 1911 it was only women he saw carrying these swords "...on their way to the grain fields". Marriage A custom unique to the Chok was the payment of dowry in palm wine or honey. External relations Loikop people Samburu traditions describe their relationship with the Pokot as one of inter-ethnic lang'ata i.e. a close yet circumspect bond best perceived as a friendship born as a resolution to past conflict. The Samburu place the oath beyond living memory, and with many knowledgeable Samburu informants giving detailed oral history going back to at least the 1880s it is likely that this relationship was established with the Chok. Certain traditions state that the oath was renewed around the time when the Merisho age-set were murran (in the early 1900s) indicating a renewal of the oath following the assimilation of the Chok into Pokot identity. Decline The Chok were raided by the Laikipia Masai forcing some of them to flee to Kapukogh in Uganda. Dispersal Uasin Gishu Maasai The Nandi smiths narrative identifies their ancestors who arrived from the Uasin Gishu plateau with a sword known as rotuet-ap-chok (sword of/from Chok) as the Uasin Gishu Maasai. Similarly immigrants from their neighboring community (i.e. the Sekker mentioned by the Pokot elders) were known as the Segelai Maasai. Assimilation & Expansion Chok traditions recall their territorial expansion under their new identity, they remember that a time came when "... there arose a wizard among the Suk who prepared a charm in the form of a stick, which he placed in the Loikop cattle kraals, with the result that they all died." After defeating the Loikop, a settlement was established at En-ginyang (about 48 kilometers north of Lake Baringo), likely by a group of Pokotozek. This event signified the establishment of the pastoral Chok, i.e. Pokot, community. With the Pokot community established, a desire arose many Chok to adopt pastoralist culture. The aim and ambition of every agricultural Chok became to amass enough cattle to move into the Kerio Valley and join their pastoral kin. They achieved this through attaining cattle