Roundhouses, called tupen-tak in the Mutsun Ohlone language, were widely used by Central California Indian tribes for important ceremonies such as the Kuksu religion and other major dances. Traditionally, they were built partly underground, with floors excavated three or four feet into the earth. They could be as large as 80 to 100 feet in diameter, and in some cases held an entire village. On October 23, 1769, when the Portola expedition stopped along present day Gazos Creek near Pescadero on the Pacific Coast, Father Crespi described a village whose people welcomed the expedition with demonstrations of pleasure and offered pinoles made of seeds. In the middle of the village stood an immense spherical house large enough to hold all the people of the town, surrounded by much smaller pyramidal houses constructed of pine stakes. Because the large house rose above the others, the soldiers called the place Village of the Casa Grande, and the structure was also described as a large round house with a grass roof shaped like half an orange.