Hi Bill,
I have seen film footage of Masai using their Same long swords as machetes. Cutting down brush to make small temporary enclosures to protect them from animals 'over night'. It might explain why many later Same were made from modified British machete blades.
African tribal members tend to 'travel light' so it is quite likely that functional weaponary had secondary duties as a utillity 'tool' and probably vis versa. Modern day tribal warriors now tend to carry a knife and an AK47 .... and I cannot think of utillitarian use for a semi-automatic
