Dominic Sandbrook

Sikinchara, whether he's Apu or not, he arrives at this provincial capital called Kashas on the 10th of October.

And he finds that Hernando de Soto, the dashing horseman, has already arrived with a scouting party.

And who have we here?

Now, unfortunately, de Soto is behaving very poorly.

So Kashas, this place, has a college attached to its sun temple.

And the college houses 500 Ayeyas, which are young women from noble families who've been chosen for their bloodline or their beauty.

And basically, they will spend four years weaving cloth and brewing beer for the emperor.

They're sort of virgins of the temple, I suppose.

Vestal virgin equivalents.

Exactly.

Soto and his men have dragged them out into the square and are busy divvying them up among themselves.

Sikinchara is appalled when he sees this, but obviously he can't really do anything about it because he can't match the Spanish muscle.

He introduces himself to Soto.

Soto says, great, when we're finished with these women, I'll take you back to Pizarro, which he does.

They go back to Pizarro's camp.

Sikinchara is very cool, actually.

And we're told he entered as casually as if he'd been brought up all his life among Spaniards.

This is because, of course, he's on home territory.

And he's an important person.

He's used to being treated with respect.