# File lib/amazon/search.rb, line 1126
      def  initializeinitialize(stream)
        @args = {}
        @error = nil
        @stream = nil

        if stream.is_a? File
          # we were passed an open file handle -- slurp it as a string
          @stream = stream
          super stream.readlines(nil)[0]
          @stream.close
        elsif stream.is_a? REXML::Element
          @stream = stream
        else  # String
          super stream
        end

        parse

      end