ok, read the manual - tried the following:

TEXT* test_text =
{ layer = 10;
strings = 1;
string("This is a test string.");
}

PANEL* test_panel =
{ layer = 10;
pos_x = 25;
pos_y = 25;
flags = SHOW;
}

funciton main()
{ test_panel.bmap = test_text.target_map;
}

This didnt work - what am i missing here?