diff --git a/cluster.go b/cluster.go
index e49e07111..4919e4e10 100644
--- a/cluster.go
+++ b/cluster.go
@@ -1463,8 +1463,8 @@ func (t *Topology) RemoveID(nodeID string) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
-// Encode converts t into its internal representation.
-func (t *Topology) Encode() *internal.Topology {
+// encode converts t into its internal representation.
+func (t *Topology) encode() *internal.Topology {
 	return encodeTopology(t)
 }
 
diff --git a/utils_internal_test.go b/utils_internal_test.go
index 816c477ce..1f58c464c 100644
--- a/utils_internal_test.go
+++ b/utils_internal_test.go
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ func (t *ClusterCluster) addNode() error {
 
 // WriteTopology writes the given topology to disk.
 func (t *ClusterCluster) WriteTopology(path string, top *Topology) error {
-	if buf, err := proto.Marshal(top.Encode()); err != nil {
+	if buf, err := proto.Marshal(top.encode()); err != nil {
 		return err
 	} else if err := ioutil.WriteFile(filepath.Join(path, ".topology"), buf, 0666); err != nil {
 		return err