There were the Dutch residencies of Sambas and Sarabang; the English government depot on the islet of Labuan; and the strange heterogeneous settlement--half colony, half kingdom--then acknowledging the authority of the bold British adventurer, Sir James Brooke, styled "Rajah of Sarawak." If any of these places could be attained, either coastwise or across country, our castaways might consider their sufferings at an end; and it was only a question which would be the easiest to reach, and what the best way of reaching it.
After due consideration, Labuan was the point decided upon.

From that part of the coast Captain Redwood supposed himself to be, it was by far the nearest civilised settlement--in fact, the only one that offered a chance of being reached by travellers circumstanced as they.

Of course they had no intention to start immediately.

Their strength was not sufficiently restored, and they were only discussing the question of a journey to be undertaken before long, and the probabilities of their being able to accomplish it.
Although they were now safe on land, and need no longer dread the "dangers of the deep," they did not yet believe themselves delivered from all peril.

The part of the coast on which they had landed appeared uninhabited; but it was not this that made them uneasy.