diff --git a/lib/traverse.js b/lib/traverse.js
index b10e657..a2cddc2 100644
--- a/lib/traverse.js
+++ b/lib/traverse.js
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ function Traverse (refObj) {
                 node[key] = clone(ref[key]);
             });
             // To make instanceof work:
-            if ('__proto__' in ref) node.__proto__ = ref.__proto__;
+            node.__proto__ = ref.__proto__;
             // Probably there are other attributes worth copying
             return node;
         }
diff --git a/test/instance.js b/test/instance.js
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..62c5c5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/instance.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+var sys = require('sys');
+var Traverse = require('traverse');
+var EventEmitter = require('events').EventEmitter;
+
+exports['check instanceof on node elems'] = function (assert) {
+    
+    var counts = { emitter : 0 };
+    
+    Traverse([ new EventEmitter, 3, 4, { ev : new EventEmitter }])
+        .forEach(function (node) {
+            if (node instanceof EventEmitter) counts.emitter ++;
+        })
+    ;
+    
+    assert.equal(counts.emitter, 2);
+};
+