diff --git a/Source/NSXMLNode.m b/Source/NSXMLNode.m
index e69cf85e1..c074f860f 100644
--- a/Source/NSXMLNode.m
+++ b/Source/NSXMLNode.m
@@ -251,6 +251,8 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLNode)
   NSUInteger count = 0;
   xmlNodePtr children = NULL;
   xmlNodePtr node = (xmlNodePtr)(internal->node);
+  if (node->type == XML_DOCUMENT_NODE)
+    node = xmlDocGetRootElement((xmlDocPtr)node);
 
   for (children = node->children; children && count != index; children = children->next)
     {
@@ -265,6 +267,8 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLNode)
   NSUInteger childCount = 0;
   xmlNodePtr children = NULL;
   xmlNodePtr node = (xmlNodePtr)(internal->node);
+  if (node->type == XML_DOCUMENT_NODE)
+    node = xmlDocGetRootElement((xmlDocPtr)node);
 
   for (children = node->children; children; children = children->next)
     {
@@ -279,6 +283,8 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLNode)
   NSMutableArray *childrenArray = [NSMutableArray array];
   xmlNodePtr children = NULL;
   xmlNodePtr node = (xmlNodePtr)(internal->node);
+  if (node->type == XML_DOCUMENT_NODE)
+    node = xmlDocGetRootElement((xmlDocPtr)node);
 
   for (children = node->children; children; children = children->next)
     {
@@ -619,7 +625,7 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLNode)
 
   error = xmlNodeDump(buffer, doc, node, 1, 1);
   buf = buffer->content;
-  len = buffer->size;
+  len = buffer->use;
   string = StringFromXMLString(buf,len);
   xmlBufferFree(buffer);
   AUTORELEASE(string);