On leaving a snow igloo the Eskimos are careful to kick the front out of it, that the evil spirits may not find shelter there, and when they throw away a worn-out garment it is never left intact, but is torn in such a way that the devil may not use it to warm himself.

A comfortable devil is presumably more dangerous than a shivering one.

Any sudden and unexplained barking or howling among the dogs indicates the invisible presence of Tornarsuk, and the men will run out and crack their whips or fire their rifles to scare away the invader.

When, on board the _Roosevelt_ in winter quarters, I was suddenly aroused from sleep by the crack of rifles, I did not think there was a mutiny aboard--only that Tornarsuk had ridden by upon the wind.
When the ice presses hard against the ship, an Eskimo will call on his dead father to push it away; when the wind blows with special violence, ancestors are again appealed to.

Passing along a cliff, on a sledge journey, a man will sometimes stop and listen and then say: "Did you hear what the devil said just then ?" I have asked the Eskimo to repeat to me the words of Tornarsuk, up there on the cliff, and I would not dream of laughing at my faithful friends at such a time; the messages of Tornarsuk I receive with a respectful gravity.
There are no chiefs among these people, no men in authority; but there are medicine men who have some influence.