Telek ?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by rockelk

S'bula, I looked up the Subla and found a reference describing the use of a label (sp.) bayonet. the bayonet was a four sided device some what like an epee. as such, it would not have two fullers. the description was in French s. I don't understand French, so , I have to plead ignorance.
With Regards, rm

While these bayonet blades found notable use through the Sahara and of course in the s'boula, I personally have not been aware of them being used in Tuareg arm daggers. As Briggs notes, these Tuareg daggers are usually with European blades, those being primarily Italian.
With ethnographic weapons though, one can expect anomalies. so if any such examples are known ,they would be welcome here.

[TVV]

Very nice tuareg telek dagger Rockelk, with a nice blade as well. The South Algeria attribution is supported by an example in the Quai Branly Museum, which Iain found sometime ago, and also by Tristan Arbousse Bastide - link to a thread below, where Tim Simmons uploaded some scans from Arbousse Bastide's book:

http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=22555

[Jim McDougall]

Thanks very much for that great link Teodor!
In looking back at it I noted the interesting entry in the rather obscure (and with unfortunate and dated title), " Weapons and Implements of Savage Races" (Montague, 1921). (see image below)
Here is an arm dagger attributed to the Kanuri of Bornu, situated to the south of Ajjer regions in Nigeria.
It is not surprising to see these similar forms diffuse into contiguous regions with these nomadic peoples.

[rockelk]

Regarding the “Adabal”, the grip (hardwood) had a makeshift leather repair hiding the area of where the Adabal might be. I removed the repair piece of leather which was stitched together (easy to put back together) with a single strand of copper wire. The knife / sword appears to have been repaired / resurrected at least once. Underneath are broken rivets, copper and steel, broken and missing brass ornaments.
Using a magnet, I can tell the tang is at least 4” long, going back past the Agades cross area. The bolster has metal wedges driven in on both sides perhaps this is an internal alternative to a adabal. The remaining void filled with some material similar to an adhesive, resulting in a grip that feels quite secure.
further, I want to express a sincere appreciation of the effort expended by the people here and the extensive resources this site has at hand, rm

[Jim McDougall]

RM, thank you for the kind words and especially for the added insight on the construction and detail on your fine example. It helps add to the material we try to assemble for future reference and research.