diff --git a/js/common/modules/org/arangodb/graph/traversal.js b/js/common/modules/org/arangodb/graph/traversal.js
index a034475473..edf23c11a5 100644
--- a/js/common/modules/org/arangodb/graph/traversal.js
+++ b/js/common/modules/org/arangodb/graph/traversal.js
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ function ArangoTraverser (config) {
     },
     visitor: TrackingVisitor,
     filter: VisitAllFilter,
-    expander: CollectionOutboundExpander
+    expander: CollectionOutboundExpander,
+    datasource: null
   };
 
   if (typeof config !== "object") {
@@ -94,6 +95,10 @@ function ArangoTraverser (config) {
     throw "invalid expander";
   }
 
+  if (typeof config.datasource !== "object") {
+    throw "invalid datasource";
+  }
+
   this.config = config;
 }
 
@@ -458,7 +463,7 @@ function DepthFirstSearch () {
 
 function CollectionOutboundExpander (config, vertex, path) {
   var connections = [ ];
-  var outEdges = config.edgeCollection.outEdges(vertex._id);
+  var outEdges = config.datasource.getOutEdges(vertex._id);
       
   if (outEdges.length > 1 && config.sort) {
     outEdges.sort(config.sort);
@@ -466,7 +471,7 @@ function CollectionOutboundExpander (config, vertex, path) {
 
   outEdges.forEach(function (edge) {
     try {
-      var v = internal.db._document(edge._to);
+      var v = config.datasource.getVertex(edge._to);
       connections.push({ edge: edge, vertex: v });    
     }
     catch (e) {
@@ -483,7 +488,7 @@ function CollectionOutboundExpander (config, vertex, path) {
 
 function CollectionInboundExpander (config, vertex, path) {
   var connections = [ ];
-  var inEdges = config.edgeCollection.inEdges(vertex._id);
+  var inEdges = config.datasource.getInEdges(vertex._id);
       
   if (inEdges.length > 1 && config.sort) {
     inEdges.sort(config.sort);
@@ -491,7 +496,7 @@ function CollectionInboundExpander (config, vertex, path) {
 
   inEdges.forEach(function (edge) {
     try {
-      var v = internal.db._document(edge._from);
+      var v = config.datasource.getVertex(edge._from);
       connections.push({ edge: edge, vertex: v });    
     }
     catch (e) {
@@ -508,7 +513,7 @@ function CollectionInboundExpander (config, vertex, path) {
 
 function CollectionAnyExpander (config, vertex, path) {
   var connections = [ ];
-  var edges = config.edgeCollection.edges(vertex._id);
+  var edges = config.datasource.getAllEdges(vertex._id);
       
   if (edges.length > 1 && config.sort) {
     edges.sort(config.sort);
@@ -516,7 +521,7 @@ function CollectionAnyExpander (config, vertex, path) {
 
   edges.forEach(function (edge) {
     try {
-      var v = internal.db._document(edge._from === vertex._id ? edge._to : edge._from);
+      var v = config.datasource.getVertex(edge._from === vertex._id ? edge._to : edge._from);
       connections.push({ edge: edge, vertex: v });    
     }
     catch (e) {
@@ -527,6 +532,32 @@ function CollectionAnyExpander (config, vertex, path) {
   return connections;
 }
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+/// @brief default ArangoCollection datasource
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+function CollectionDatasourceFactory (edgeCollection) {
+  return {
+    edgeCollection: edgeCollection,
+
+    getAllEdges: function (vertexId) {
+      return this.edgeCollection.edges(vertexId);
+    },
+    
+    getInEdges: function (vertexId) {
+      return this.edgeCollection.inEdges(vertexId);
+    },
+    
+    getOutEdges: function (vertexId) {
+      return this.edgeCollection.outEdges(vertexId);
+    },
+
+    getVertex: function (vertexId) {
+      return internal.db._document(vertexId);
+    }
+  };
+};
+
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 /// @brief default expander that expands all outbound edges labeled with one label in config.labels 
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -651,7 +682,7 @@ function MaxDepthFilter (config, vertex, path) {
   if (path.vertices.length > config.maxDepth) {
     return ArangoTraverser.PRUNE;
   }
-};
+}
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 /// @brief default filter to exclude all vertices up to a given depth
@@ -661,14 +692,15 @@ function MinDepthFilter (config, vertex, path) {
   if (path.vertices.length <= config.minDepth) {
     return ArangoTraverser.EXCLUDE;
   }
-};
-
+}
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-/// @brief default filter to include all vertices matching one of the given attribute sets
+/// @brief default filter to include all vertices matching one of the given 
+/// attribute sets
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
 function IncludeMatchingAttributesFilter (config, vertex, path) {
-  if (!Array.isArray(config.matchingAttributes)) {
+  if (! Array.isArray(config.matchingAttributes)) {
     config.matchingAttributes = [config.matchingAttributes];
   }
   var include = false
@@ -803,6 +835,7 @@ exports.Traverser                       = ArangoTraverser;
 exports.CollectionOutboundExpander      = CollectionOutboundExpander;
 exports.CollectionInboundExpander       = CollectionInboundExpander;
 exports.CollectionAnyExpander           = CollectionAnyExpander;
+exports.CollectionDatasourceFactory     = CollectionDatasourceFactory;
 exports.VisitAllFilter                  = VisitAllFilter;
 exports.IncludeMatchingAttributesFilter = IncludeMatchingAttributesFilter;
 exports.TrackingVisitor                 = TrackingVisitor;
diff --git a/js/common/tests/shell-graph-traversal.js b/js/common/tests/shell-graph-traversal.js
index 751af17de3..07a19e420d 100644
--- a/js/common/tests/shell-graph-traversal.js
+++ b/js/common/tests/shell-graph-traversal.js
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ function GraphTreeTraversalSuite () {
       vertices: vertices,
     
       getAllEdges: function (vertexId) {
-        return this.inEdges[vertexId].concat(outEdges[vertex_id]);
+        return this.inEdges[vertexId].concat(outEdges[vertexId]);
       },
     
       getInEdges: function (vertexId) {
@@ -1421,7 +1421,7 @@ function CollectionTraversalSuite () {
     testOutboundExpander : function () {
       var config = {
         sort: function (l, r) { return l._key < r._key ? -1 : 1 },
-        edgeCollection: edgeCollection
+        datasource: traversal.CollectionDatasourceFactory(edgeCollection)
       }; 
 
       var expander = traversal.CollectionOutboundExpander;
@@ -1456,7 +1456,7 @@ function CollectionTraversalSuite () {
     testInboundExpander : function () {
       var config = {
         sort: function (l, r) { return l._key < r._key ? -1 : 1 },
-        edgeCollection: edgeCollection
+        datasource: traversal.CollectionDatasourceFactory(edgeCollection)
       }; 
 
       var expander = traversal.CollectionInboundExpander;
@@ -1490,7 +1490,7 @@ function CollectionTraversalSuite () {
 
     testIterateFullOutbound : function () {
       var config = { 
-        edgeCollection: internal.db._collection(en),
+        datasource: traversal.CollectionDatasourceFactory(internal.db._collection(en)),
         strategy: traversal.Traverser.DEPTH_FIRST,
         order: traversal.Traverser.PRE_ORDER,
         itemOrder: traversal.Traverser.FORWARD,
@@ -1529,7 +1529,7 @@ function CollectionTraversalSuite () {
 
     testIterateInbound : function () {
       var config = { 
-        edgeCollection: internal.db._collection(en),
+        datasource: traversal.CollectionDatasourceFactory(internal.db._collection(en)),
         strategy: traversal.Traverser.DEPTH_FIRST,
         order: traversal.Traverser.PRE_ORDER,
         itemOrder: traversal.Traverser.FORWARD,
@@ -1561,7 +1561,7 @@ function CollectionTraversalSuite () {
 
     testIterateUniqueGlobalVertices : function () {
       var config = { 
-        edgeCollection: internal.db._collection(en),
+        datasource: traversal.CollectionDatasourceFactory(internal.db._collection(en)),
         strategy: traversal.Traverser.DEPTH_FIRST,
         order: traversal.Traverser.PRE_ORDER,
         itemOrder: traversal.Traverser.FORWARD,
@@ -1600,7 +1600,7 @@ function CollectionTraversalSuite () {
 
     testIterateUniquePathVertices : function () {
       var config = { 
-        edgeCollection: internal.db._collection(en),
+        datasource: traversal.CollectionDatasourceFactory(internal.db._collection(en)),
         strategy: traversal.Traverser.DEPTH_FIRST,
         order: traversal.Traverser.PRE_ORDER,
         itemOrder: traversal.Traverser.FORWARD,
@@ -1643,7 +1643,7 @@ function CollectionTraversalSuite () {
 
     testIterateUniqueEdges : function () {
       var config = { 
-        edgeCollection: internal.db._collection(en),
+        datasource: traversal.CollectionDatasourceFactory(internal.db._collection(en)),
         strategy: traversal.Traverser.DEPTH_FIRST,
         order: traversal.Traverser.PRE_ORDER,
         itemOrder: traversal.Traverser.FORWARD,
diff --git a/js/server/ahuacatl.js b/js/server/ahuacatl.js
index 3692805c59..e33d08754b 100644
--- a/js/server/ahuacatl.js
+++ b/js/server/ahuacatl.js
@@ -2348,7 +2348,7 @@ function AHUACATL_GRAPH_TRAVERSE () {
   }
 
   var config = {
-    edgeCollection: edgeCollection,
+    datasource: traversal.CollectionDatasourceFactory(edgeCollection),
     strategy: validate(params.strategy, {
       'depthfirst': traversal.Traverser.DEPTH_FIRST,
       'breadthfirst': traversal.Traverser.BREADTH_FIRST