Nicolas Cés& d 
(now Respen Tubu), in the vicinity of the town of 
Malinau - the district capital since 2003. Number 
ing 2,400 (410 families in 2004), the Punan Tubu 
are no longer nomadic. However, those living in 
the upper Tubu River region (140 families) migrate 
periodically for hunting and collecting forest re 
sources. By contrast, those settled downstream for 
the past thirty years cultivate rice and vegetables 
which they sell at the market; some get financial 
compensation from the logging and mining com 
panies exploiting their land (see Levang, Dounias, 
and Sitorus 2005). 
The understanding of how Punan society works 
requires an analysis of the history of the group 
K with ^ 
and its encounters, from the first contac ^ ii4 0 
outside world to their subsequent integt^ ^ 
that wider ethnic and economic context 
complete, it is also important to under ^ fio* 
cultural basis, integral to their economic 
lowing the same pattern as other hunte ^ tP 
peoples (Woodburn 1980, 1982; Testart ^ oJl alv 
food economy of the Punan does not tra ^ 
produce surplus; thus wealth does n ° 
o tW social & A jfl 
part in the various stages of their s0Cld / J p 
However, for more than a century, 1 . p# 
jwed 
non-timber forest products has allowed\ f 
of the Tubu River to obtain goods w 
cally unavailable, objects that are sti 
n. I 02 ' 20 
AnthroP oS