[Conogre]

Thanks of chiming in and filling in the gaps, Jim.....as you can tell, this one caught me entirely off guard.
The only thing I can add is to the comment about the people being nominally Sunni Muslims,(which is where the Moroccan attribution likely came into the picture) while I repeatedly kept coming across references to many Berber sects that have stubbornly held on to their pre-Islamic languages and customs.
I couldn't find anything specific on this, but I've repeatedly seen references to crosses in Berber and Taureg art and weaponry going back to pre-Islamic conversion as well, along with many anecdotes and comments that would seem to indicate that there may be a remnent of animism in the extremely diverse culture as well.
This appears to be another area where change, conversion and modernization have all had major and sometimes immediate impact with tremendous amounts of history and fact likely lost forever.
As to the Flyssa swords, somehow these don't "feel" like your average horseman's sword of the sabre/scimitar style, even those with straight blades, leading me to suspect that this weapon has or had its own unique style of use that's probably another of those matters now lost to the past.
The small grip/hilt would seem to make it very hard to hold onto when combined with the speed and force commonly associated with mounted combat, while the peculiar blade shape would also seem to make it very susceptible to breaking in the middle under those same conditions, while it's obviously a thruster that would be hard to stop.
This area is far outside of any expertiese on my part, but any thoughts would be appreciated as I find it hard to believe that these weren't made to be used more than as status symbols, as is common with so many other types.
Mike