REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 15 



Total permanent Smithson fund in the Treasury of the 

 United States, bearing interest at 6 per cent., payable 

 semi-annually $651, 000 00 



In addition to the above, there are Virginia bonds and cer- 

 tificates, viz, consolidated bonds, $58,700 ; deferred cer- 

 tificates, $29,375.07 ; fractional certificate, $50.13 ; total, 

 $88,125.20, valued January, 1880, at 32, 000 00 



Cash balance deposited in the Treasury of the United 

 States at the beginning of th'e year 1880, for current ex- 

 penses 20,894 06 



Total Smithson fund January 2, 1880 $703, 894 06 



The receipts in 1879, were $02,004.08, and the expenditures $41,110.02, 

 leaving a balance on hand of $20,894.00. 



THE HABEL BEQUEST. 



Previous reports of the Institution contain allusions to the explora- 

 tions and researches of Dr. Simeon Habel. This gentleman was of 

 Austrian birth ; graduated in 1846 at the Vienna University, and for 

 several years had been the resident-physician in charge of a public hos- 

 pital. In consequence of his liberal views, he was obliged to leave 

 Europe and seek a home in America. His love of nature and the 

 desire to advance science led him to undertake an extended tour 

 through Central and South America. Before doing this, however, he 

 spent several months at the Smithsonian Institution, in making himself 

 familiar, under the direction of Professor Egleston, then in charge of the 

 Geological Department, with the most important species of minerals and 

 rocks. Subsequently, during seven years, he made collections in natural 

 history and observations in meteorology, geography, geology, and ar- 

 chaeology. 



Among the regions of South America to which Dr. Habel devoted 

 special attention were those of the guano deposits of Peru and of the 

 remarkable group known as the Galapagos Islands. Of the peculiar 

 bird fauna of these islands, Dr. Habel made large collections, which 

 were fully described by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin in the proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society of London. 



Keturning to New York about the year 1877, he devoted himself 

 to the elaboration of his researches and, in time, prepared for the In- 

 stitution, a memoir entitled "The Sculptures of Santa Lucia Cosumal 

 whuapa, with an account of travels in Central America and on the North- 

 western coast of South America." This work was published by the In- 

 stitution in 1878, and contains a brief account of Dr. Habel's ethnologi- 

 cal and archaeological researches, and a minute description of a group of 

 sculptures discovered by him at Santa Lucia Cosumalwhuapa, a small 

 town in Guatemala. The variety of ornamentation, the skill in execu- 

 tion, and the grade of refinement exhibited in the designs upon these 

 bas-reliefs, as well as the almost total absence of sculptures hitherto re- 



