diff --git a/src/lib/host.js b/src/lib/host.js
index 08e6fa740..3ccddbfbf 100644
--- a/src/lib/host.js
+++ b/src/lib/host.js
@@ -100,6 +100,10 @@ function Host(config, globalConfig) {
     config = {};
   }
 
+  if (!config.auth && globalConfig.httpAuth) {
+    config.auth = globalConfig.httpAuth
+  }
+
   if (config.auth) {
     config.headers = config.headers || {};
     config.headers.Authorization = 'Basic ' + btoa(config.auth);
diff --git a/test/unit/specs/host.js b/test/unit/specs/host.js
index 44f432455..74589bbef 100644
--- a/test/unit/specs/host.js
+++ b/test/unit/specs/host.js
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ var hostDefaults = {
   }
 };
 
+var base64 = function (str) {
+  var buffer = Buffer.from ? Buffer.from(str, 'utf8') : new Buffer(str, 'utf8')
+  return buffer.toString('base64')
+}
+
 describe('Host class', function () {
   describe('construction', function () {
     it('properly sets the defaults', function () {
@@ -120,7 +125,7 @@ describe('Host class', function () {
         expect(host.host).to.eql('pizza.com');
         expect(host.port).to.eql(888);
         expect(host.path).to.eql('/path');
-        expect(host.headers).to.eql({ Authorization: 'Basic ' + (new Buffer('joe:diner')).toString('base64') });
+        expect(host.headers).to.eql({ Authorization: 'Basic ' + base64('joe:diner') });
         expect(host.query).to.eql({
           query: 'yes'
         });
@@ -134,6 +139,14 @@ describe('Host class', function () {
 
       expect(host).to.eql(hostDefaults);
     });
+
+    it('defaults auth values from the `httpAuth` setting', function () {
+      var host = new Host('http://localhost:9200', {
+        httpAuth: 'username:password'
+      });
+
+      expect(host.headers).to.have.property('Authorization', 'Basic ' + base64('username:password'));
+    });
   });
 
   describe('#makeUrl', function () {