Visigoth

In "A Witch Shall Be Born" Conan is described as wearing a "broad curved Cherkees knife in an ivory sheath girdled high on his left hip, kozak fashion." I was wondering if anyone had knowledge as to what "Cherkees" refers to in the Saga, whether a country or a people, and where else it might be mentioned either in Howard's work or the pastiches. A search results in Freebooter's excellent post on Conan's clothing descriptions but nothing more specific.

The closest modern equivalent I can think of is the Nepalese Gurkha knife or Kukri which might indicate a possible connection with Vendhya, Kosala or some other place in that general area of the Thurian continent, or not since Hyborian naming conventions are far from exact.

Any insight on this? Thanks.