I stumbled on this site .
Colonial Viet Nam , a treasure trove of photographs from the turn of the century .
http://nguyentl.free.fr/html/sommair...ncienne_vn.htm
I don't read Vietnamese but my rusty high school french helps with the captioned pictures some of which are quite graphic ; you will also get glimpses of the local weaponry of the day .
Many thanks to whoever assembled these photos .
Enjoy .