diff --git a/lib/client.js b/lib/client.js
index ab28ce4b7..c55dba7a5 100644
--- a/lib/client.js
+++ b/lib/client.js
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ function _sendEvent(client, room, event, callback) {
             // try to find an event with this event_id. If we find it, this is
             // the echo of this event *from the event stream* so we can remove
             // the fake event we made above. If we don't find it, we're still
-            // waiting on the fake event and so should assign the fake event
+            // waiting on the real event and so should assign the fake event
             // with the real event_id for matching later.
             var matchingEvent = utils.findElement(room.timeline, function(ev) {
                 return ev.getId() === eventId;
@@ -804,11 +804,16 @@ MatrixClient.prototype.roomState = function(roomId, callback) {
  * @param {Integer} limit Optional. The maximum number of previous events to
  * pull in. Default: 30.
  * @param {module:client.callback} callback Optional.
- * @return {module:client.Promise} Resolves: Room.
+ * @return {module:client.Promise} Resolves: Room. If you are at the beginning
+ * of the timeline, <code>Room.oldState.paginationToken</code> will be
+ * <code>null</code>.
  * @return {module:http-api.MatrixError} Rejects: with an error response.
  */
 MatrixClient.prototype.scrollback = function(room, limit, callback) {
     if (utils.isFunction(limit)) { callback = limit; limit = undefined; }
+    if (room.oldState.paginationToken === null) {
+        return q(room); // already at the start.
+    }
     var path = utils.encodeUri(
         "/rooms/$roomId/messages", {$roomId: room.roomId}
     );
@@ -824,6 +829,9 @@ MatrixClient.prototype.scrollback = function(room, limit, callback) {
             utils.map(res.chunk, _PojoToMatrixEventMapper), true
         );
         room.oldState.paginationToken = res.end;
+        if (res.chunk.length < limit) {
+            room.oldState.paginationToken = null;
+        }
         _resolve(callback, defer, room);
     }, function(err) {
         _reject(callback, defer, err);
diff --git a/spec/integ/matrix-client-room-timeline.spec.js b/spec/integ/matrix-client-room-timeline.spec.js
index e2ed112e9..b7ddbb6ef 100644
--- a/spec/integ/matrix-client-room-timeline.spec.js
+++ b/spec/integ/matrix-client-room-timeline.spec.js
@@ -73,17 +73,14 @@ describe("MatrixClient room timelines", function() {
     });
 
     describe("local echo events", function() {
-        var sendEvent = utils.mkMessage({
-            room: roomId, user: otherUserId, msg: "hello"
-        });
 
-        it("should be added immediately after calling MatrixClient.sendEvent "+
+        it("should be added immediately after calling MatrixClient.sendEvent " +
         "with EventStatus.SENDING and the right event.sender", function(done) {
             client.on("syncComplete", function() {
                 var room = client.getRoom(roomId);
                 expect(room.timeline.length).toEqual(1);
 
-                var promise = client.sendTextMessage(roomId, "I am a fish", "txn1");
+                client.sendTextMessage(roomId, "I am a fish", "txn1");
                 // check it was added
                 expect(room.timeline.length).toEqual(2);
                 // check status
@@ -95,13 +92,13 @@ describe("MatrixClient room timelines", function() {
 
                 httpBackend.flush("/events", 1).done(function() {
                     done();
-                })
+                });
             });
             client.startClient();
             httpBackend.flush("/initialSync", 1);
         });
 
-        it("should be updated correctly when the send request finishes "+
+        it("should be updated correctly when the send request finishes " +
         "BEFORE the event comes down the event stream", function(done) {
             var eventId = "$foo:bar";
             httpBackend.when("PUT", "/txn1").respond(200, {
@@ -130,7 +127,7 @@ describe("MatrixClient room timelines", function() {
             httpBackend.flush("/initialSync", 1);
         });
 
-        it("should be updated correctly when the send request finishes "+
+        it("should be updated correctly when the send request finishes " +
         "AFTER the event comes down the event stream", function(done) {
             var eventId = "$foo:bar";
             httpBackend.when("PUT", "/txn1").respond(200, {
@@ -156,7 +153,7 @@ describe("MatrixClient room timelines", function() {
                         done();
                     });
                 });
-                
+
             });
             client.startClient();
             httpBackend.flush("/initialSync", 1);
@@ -170,4 +167,4 @@ describe("MatrixClient room timelines", function() {
     describe("new events", function() {
 
     });
-});
\ No newline at end of file
+});
diff --git a/spec/mock-request.js b/spec/mock-request.js
index dbc66207a..987c0484e 100644
--- a/spec/mock-request.js
+++ b/spec/mock-request.js
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ HttpBackend.prototype = {
         var defer = q.defer();
         var self = this;
         var flushed = 0;
-        console.log("HTTP backend flushing... (path=%s  numToFlush=%s)", path, numToFlush);
+        console.log(
+            "HTTP backend flushing... (path=%s  numToFlush=%s)", path, numToFlush
+        );
         var tryFlush = function() {
             // if there's more real requests and more expected requests, flush 'em.
             console.log(