Canvas and other cloth is a very common material used to form the core of scabbards and handles across much of the southern Sahel. Presumably this is because of the high density of population in relation to the scarcity and how slowly wood grows in the area, or how easily it is consumed by insects, or perhaps it is just cheap and easily rolled and formed into various shapes. The tabouka like sabre I post pictures of some days back had a canvass core to the scabbard and handle.
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